


Digimon Adventure 03: Rise of FellDevimon

by Vaeric



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02
Genre: F/M, Gen, My First Fanfic, Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:29:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28345431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vaeric/pseuds/Vaeric
Summary: Alternate telling of a Digimon 03. Three years have passed since the Digidestined went worldwide and defeated Myotismon; but one great threat remains between them and peace. Devimon, the first villain, and Angemon's dark mirror.
Relationships: Ichijouji Ken/Inoue Miyako | Yolei Inoue, Ishida Yamato | Matt Ishida/Takenouchi Sora, Tachikawa Mimi/Michael (Digimon), Takaishi Takeru | T.K. Takaishi/Yagami Hikari | Kari Kamiya
Kudos: 5





	1. Prologue

"That was fun."

Two boys entered the room laughing, both about the same age, followed by a blond-haired man in his late thirties. He watched as the boys ran up the stairs; this man was Takeru Takashi, or T.K. for short.

"Dad we’re going to watch TV", one of the kids yelled from upstairs.

T.K. finished taking off his shoes and walked by the stairs, "Ok, have fun” he yelled back. He paused for a second before adding, “and bed by nine, or your mom will kill me when she gets home" he added, chuckling to himself.

"She won't mind a little later, promise" the small brunette kid poked his head down the stairs. “Please dad?”

T.K. could never argue with his sons. "Alright" he sighed, “ten”. He knew he was spoiling them, but who could blame him? He walked into the kitchen and looked in the fridge absentmindedly. He peered over into his study. His first book was sitting on his desk; he had just typed up the end to his second story earlier that day. They were both about the life changing, death defying event that happened to him as a child in the Digital World.

The first book had made T.K. a celebrity of sorts, not just because he wrote it, but more often than not, he was the hero. As much as he disdained the attention, he and his friends all thought the world needed to know their story. "Digimon Adventure" was a worldwide best seller, and his fans (along with his publishers) had been hounding him for the rest.

T.K. took a soda out of the refrigerator and popped it open. He looked at his computer, then at the clock.

"It's not that late, I could squeeze in an outline before bed", he mumbled. 

T.K. headed over to his computer, opened his writing program, and cracked his knuckles.

"I guess it's time the world knew how this story ends."

\-----

Three years had passed since the DigiDestined of the world had destroyed Myotismon once and for all.

Tai was getting ready to graduate, and finally trimmed down his hair.

Matt moved out of his dad’s house and had a place to himself.

Sora had finally asked Matt out after years, and the two of them were in a relationship.

Izzy had finished High School early, and was already excelling in University.

Joe had started University too, and had finally learned to balance his social life. 

Mimi moved back to Japan, and dyed her hair, again. 

Kari started working at a dog shelter, much to Gatomon’s displeasure.

Davis took over as the leader of the Digimon community, the Ex Dark Spore children adored him.

Yolei followed Sora’s footsteps and joined the high school tennis team. 

Cody became a kendo master, and at 15 won the national championship. 

Ken changed schools, commuting to be with his friends. 

But me, I hadn’t changed at all. Myotismon was defeated, but it still felt like I was waiting on something. 

-Takeru “T. K.” Takaishi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have had ideas and incarnations about this fanfic since 2003/2004. It was originally a fix-fic for the Digimon Movie with some Megaman villains I liked.  
> It helped me through some rough times in high school and college, and my 8th grad notebook with early plot points is one of my greatest treasure. Now that I'm a grown man, figured I would finally post it somewhere. I'd love feedback, and I absolutely reserve the right to edit it even more.  
> Worth noting that due to its age, it is not canon compliant with Tri, but surprisingly okay with Last Evolution.


	2. Problem with Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I add some exposition and setup. I did you all a favor and removed the awful french accent i originally wrote for Catherine.

Catherine looked around; nothing, per usual.

She was a pretty girl, blond and fair, wearing a pricy looking sundress and matching oversized sunglasses. She and her Digimon were in the middle of the ocean, in a small motor boat built for two. She was lazily playing with her fingernails as her hair whipped in the wind. Even though she was in the seat behind the steering wheel, she had turned on autopilot some time ago and had forgotten about it.

"Why do we get the most boring jobs?" she asked the floral Digimon next to her. Her once thick accent had faded from hanging out with so many children from around the world. 

Her partner, Floramon, looked worried. They were on ocean duty; due to Izzy's plan for a safer DigiWorld, every DigiDestined had to do a certain amount of patrol each month, and they got picked to monitor the Digiocean today. "It's not fair; get an Australian or Russian DigiDestined to do this," Floramon said, "Kiwimon can't fly or swim."

"Do not be such a worrier Floramon" Catherine said, flipping her sunglasses onto her head. "Nothing ever happens on patrol. It is not like we are stationed at the Wall of Fire, those DigiDestined are monitoring for any actual threats; this is just a chore."

"Just get someone else to do it then" Floramon cried.

"I do not much like boats either" she sighed, mostly ignoring her partner’s outburst. 

They talked and complained for a while, when Catherine's eyes started to feel very heavy. This confused her, she almost felt like she had been drugged. Before she could do anything about it, she found herself sitting down on the boat floor. Her eyes saw Floramon was asleep too, but she couldn’t help lying down, if just for a minute.

A shadow loomed overhead, and the controls on the boat blinked rapidly. All the lights then turned a dark red, and the boat turned into a new direction.

\-----

"This is pointless!"

Izzy nearly fell out of his seat at Yolei's outburst. It was an early morning in December, Christmas was approaching and an impromptu gathering of DigiDestined had fallen into place. Several of the original kids were there, along with Noriko and Michael. They had decided to have the meeting in a public restaurant, and people were starting to stare. Izzy was explaining some of the possible outcomes of going public about the Digimon. He was just getting into a pre-prepared lecture about ambassadorship papers that partner Digimon may have to get when Yolei shouted.

"Am I going to have to be the one to say it? Because everyone else seems to be overlooking one important detail! A dialogue between us and adults will get nowhere if they keep forgetting." Yolei was getting impatient. People in the restaurant stopped and stared at the ruckus. Yolei showed her teeth and looked around, everyone quickly looked away.

Davis was confused, as usual. "What do you mean?"

"You mean you haven't realized it yet?" Joe answered with a sigh. "Nobody we tell seems to remember unless we bring it up first. News stations never talk about three years ago anymore, and if I mention the Control Spires in my classes nobody remembers them. Even our parents seem to blank on it at times.”

Davis thought about it for a while before opening his mouth, only to be cut off by Noriko.

"Joe, what about your brother and Jun?" she said. “They have Digivices now and they seem to remember fine, and they are much older than regular DigiDestined.” 

"New stuff that happens, sure. But even with their new Digivices and partners, they still have trouble remembering much about Myotismon’s attacks." Joe said. “For that matter, does anyone remember Parrotmon in detail? Because I don’t.”

“I have an ongoing theory on that.” Izzy chimed in. He opened his laptop and pulled up a picture of his old Digivice. “I believe there is a frequency in the Digivice that transforms thought and emotion into Digital energy, but also Digital memory into something our brain can better comprehend.” This earned some blank looks from the group. 

“What I’m saying,” Izzy clarified. “Is that without a connection to a Digivice, organic brains can’t properly focus on the idea of the Digital World.” 

“So is it futile? What if we lose our Digivices?” Sora asked, clearly worried.

“Nothing I am willing to test at this moment, but from personal experience, our memories would fade naturally, but at a faster rate.” Izzy responded. “Unlike some of you, I don’t hide my Digimon from my parents, but sometimes my mom will still start to set three plates out for dinner until she sees Tentomon.”

“Then that needs to be a priority of ours, maybe we can have a Digimon sit in on the law-making process to remind people important notes.” Joe suggested. 

“Oh yeah, that would go well, let’s have a Kuwagamon join the legislators.” Michael said with a smirk. The others all laughed at the absurdity and soon it became a game. 

“Roachmon! Could you imagine” Mimi giggled.

“Meramon could be a hot new representative.” Noriko suggested. 

“No wait, Whamon for sure!” Yolei said, loudly. The DigiDestined had become quite a loud group of kids. 

“Even if we knew how, am I the only one who thinks going public would be a bad idea?" Tai interrupted, arms crossed and solemn, as if he knew an argument was coming. The laughter died as what he said sunk in. 

"Why is that?" asked Mimi. "We would be celebrities." She whipped her shocking blue ponytail, as if to prove her point, and knocked a tray out of a passing waitress’s hand. The tray fell with a loud clash, causing even more people to turn in their direction.

"Because, more children interacting with Digimon would mean more DigiDestined. The Highton View Terrace incident alone created the original eight DigiDestined, and that was just two Digimon" Tai whispered grimly. “The sheer number of recruits after the MaloMyotismon attack is only now getting under control.”

Ken looked worried at this statement. "So now we are an exclusive club for the select few?"

"It's not that," Tai explained, "I'm just not comfortable putting others in our situation.”

"That's true," said Sora. "What if they got hurt because of us? We haven’t had any kids die on our watch, but that has just been dumb luck."

"I'm sure Gennai wouldn't give toddlers Digivices, and the younger kids have us to keep them safe" Michael said. He felt out of place, though he was generally accepted here by the other DigiDestined, and Betamon and Mimi taught him Japanese. He still didn’t feel like a core member of the group, more like one of the ambassadors, like Rosa or Derek.

"We also have to think about Digi-Ports, since most new DigiDestined get a D3" Izzy said, looking at his own new D3, with purple grip. "I want to be in Japan this Christmas"

"OK, let's vote, all for going public?" Davis yelled. He raised his hand in the air, followed by Noriko and Yolei. 

“We can’t vote right now, obviously.” Ken said. The three blushed as they lowered their hands.

"Ken is right, there are still Cody, Matt, and our Digimon" T.K. said. Kari glanced over at him, he was looking a little pale, and had been awfully quiet during the meeting.

"Not to mention nearly seven hundred international DigiDestined and their partners" Michael added. "And that’s not even including wild Digimon. We can't decide for everyone".

"So, we will have a series of meetings, along with debates, in the digital world," Tai said.

They all agreed and set a date for the first one on New Year’s. They all sat for a while, unsure what to do next, until Sora stood up.

"Well if you all will excuse me, I have a date with Matt." Sora said. Yolei blushed and looked at Ken.

"We should go do something too, Ken" she giggled. Davis made a disgusted look towards them.

Yolei's flirtatious mode quickly turned to rage. "What was that ab-" she started to yell. A large man with a manager name tag was standing over their table, glaring angrily. 

"I'm going to have to ask you all to leave." 

\-----

Catherine woke up as the boat started to shake and. She looked at her Digivice's clock, it was midday, yet the sky was pitch black.

She made a quick survey of the area with a flashlight from the boat, and saw a small Digimon being pulled into a whirlpool that seemed unnaturally dark. 

'Floramon wake up, ' she yelled. Her partner jumped to her feet, looking unsettled by all the water. Not sure how she could help the Digimon, Catherine held out her Digivice, and pointed it at the whirlpool. She had seen the Japanese DigiDestined do amazing things with theirs, and was hoping hers could too. It didn't respond.

"Work!" she choked, tears rolling down her face. She heard the small Digimon yelling. She grabbed her Digivice with her other hand, shaking it violently.

"Do something!"

Her Digivice then shot out a beam of pure light; it struck the whirlpool, releasing the Digimon. The Digimon gave a haunting laugh, and disappeared into thin air. Catherine watched as the whirlpool dissipated, confused as to what had happened.

"Are you ok?" Floramon asked her. Catherine wiped the tears off her face.

"Yes, I am alright" she said, "That was weird, but I think it is over now."

A darkness spread out of the water where the whirlpool had been, and a devilish figure rose out, spreading his wings.

"I disagree," the dark figure said, malice thick in his words. A smile crossed his lips. "This has just begun."

"Floramon! Take him out" Catherine shouted as her Digivice once again flared with light.

Floramon Digivolve to:

Kiwimon!

Kiwimon jumped at the dark creature, only to be casually blasted aside by a dark beam. The dark humanoid spread his wings. "You cannot win, child. Not with that pathetic level of power. I am Lord Devimon, and I will rule this world as my own."

"Evil Wing"

Dark energy waves spewed from his entire body. Kiwimon yelled and jumped in front of Catherine. Kiwimon was burned by the energy, and reverted into a Digi-Egg, and Catherine was knocked to the ground. Devimon gave a dark laugh, and flew towards land. "That should give those digibrats something to worry about.”

"I must warn the others," Catherine whispered as she passed out on the boat's hull.

\-----

T.K. stood outside the restaurant, staring forward with a blank look even as everyone else left.

"What are you thinking about?" Kari said from behind him. Her eyes were bright, but T.K. could see her concern.

"It's nothing," he said, keeping his eyes straight ahead. "Just a bad feeling."

"Aww come on T.K." she pouted, grabbing his arm playfully. "You and I both know that it is never 'just a bad feeling'."

T.K. paused for a moment, before turning to look at Kari. 

"It's Devimon."

Kari stared at T.K., unsure of how to respond. “What about him?”

“My, I guess, connection to him, feels off. I think he may be up to something.”

"But it can't be," she quietly protested. "Angemon took care of him, before I even met you."

The silence hung in the air as T.K. collected his thoughts.

"I never said anything to anyone else, but he was in the dark whirlpool, where Kimeramon was born. Trapped and not whole, but alive." T.K. said. "I can feel it, he's growing stronger."

"But it's ok, right?" Kari said. T.K. could tell she was worried. "Angemon can take care of him, and we have a whole DigiDestined organization now. If he is out there, our patrols will find him."

T.K. looked up at the sky. "It's not just that," he said. "I have given it some thought, he is in a lot of ways the antithesis of Angemon. We could barely beat him as a champion; and in theory, his ultimate form would be as strong as MagnaAngemon, maybe stronger."

"Don't talk like that, we beat all the dark Digimon we fought before" Kari said, her arms crossed from worry.

"I'm sorry" T.K. said. "You’re probably right, we beat him last time with only seven of us, if he is back he has a surprise in store for him. I'll walk you home, I haven't seen Gatomon in a while."

T.K. walked Kari all the way to her house, though he remained very quiet. Kari's mom invited him in for a snack.

"Sure" he said, "just one second."

T.K. took out his phone and dialed a number. "Hey Mimi, I need a favor."

\-----

Devimon floated across the landscape, releasing hundreds of Black Gears from his hands. "It feels good to spread some chaos once again." He grinned to himself, all was going according to his plan, he just had to find Dogmon.

When the 'Digimon Emperor' had first gone into his whirlpool prison, Devimon was still far too weak to escape, even with outside help. But as the creator of Black Gears, he knew a thing or two about mind control. He reached into the mind of one of the laborers, a Dogmon, and snapped the control of the Dark Ring. Devimon found it deliciously ironic, the Dogmon was from then on his right hand, even though the Digimon Emperor fell soon after. He had saved Dogmon from a short servitude in exchange for unending loyalty.

Dogmon had spent months and months traveling the Digital world on Devimon’s behalf. He had found lost relics, and collected a small fighting force on Devimon’s behalf. Though he had never been to Dogmon’s rebel base, Devimon homed in on his minion. A small forest clearing ahead had small huts, and a couple a Digimon milling about. Devimon crashed to the ground feet first, waking Dogmon from a nap nearby. 

"Master!" Dogmon cried in alarm as he hurried to his feet. He snapped at the other Digimon milling about, gapping. "Fools, bow before your lord, he has returned to grant us our promised power."

Devimon eyed his makeshift army. A Meramon, that was nice; and he saw that Dogmon had found the Drimogemon that Devimon had asked for specifically. He frowned as he looked over the rest. He dismissively waved at four of the others; a Woodmon, a Vegiemon on his shoulder, a Numemon staring blankly forward, and a very angry looking Ninjamon .

“What are those doing here, I asked for the best.” He said. Ninjamon threw a shuriken at Devimon, who stopped it midair. 

Dogmon winced. “Master, many of the strong Virus Digimon are too heavily watched, and with peace the way it is, many refused to join. And since you demanded seven, we had to accept anyone who we could find”

“What of Ogremon?” Devimon asked, half listening to Dogmon and not breaking eye contact with Ninjamon. 

“A weakling and a traitor” Ninjamon yelled, throwing a second shuriken. “I’m twice the Digimon he ever was.”

“Well then” Devimon said, catching the second then pushing both the shuriken back at Ninjamon. “Maybe I can work with this army.”

Ninjamon pocketed the shuriken as Dogmon stepped between them. “But now that you are back sir, more will flock to your rule.”

"I would rather the loyalty of those before me" Devimon declared, "Besides, all they must do is stall"

"Stall for what, master?"

\-----

Seadramon sped through the water of the Digi-Ocean with Mimi, Michael, and Palmon all on his back.

"Just a little farther, T.K. said it was around here." Mimi explained. She had added a star shaped hair piece to her long ponytail. "Well maybe, I'm still not so good with these coordinate things."

Michael sighed. "Mimi, don't you think you should have mentioned that earlier."

"Wait!" Mimi yelled. "That’s Catherine!" she pointed to a small boat being chased by a Gesomon. Catherine was driving the boat with one hand and holding a Digi-Egg with the other.

"What's Gekomon thinking?" growled Seadramon. "He is in big trouble now."

"Ice Winder"

A shard of ice flew out of Seadramon's mouth at Gesomon, hitting him dead on and causing him to fall backwards. As he hit the water, a spinning black gear on his forehead was revealed.

"Mimi!" Palmon exclaimed, pointing at the gear. Gesomon jumped right back out the water and swiped the boat. Catherine held Floramon’s Egg close as she flew through the air.

"Palmon, I got the dark gear, you save Catherine." Mimi yelled. She held out her D3, she closed her eyes to focus, and it shot out a beam of light that disintegrated the gear. Gesomon screamed as the gear disappeared and dived back into the ocean.

"Poison Ivy"

Palmon's fingers stretched out and grabbed Catherine and the Digi-Egg out of the air. Palmon reeled them safely onto Seadramon.

"You must hurry" Catherine coughed, "I was attacked by an evil Digimon, he was so powerful"

“Oh no.” Mimi muttered as she held Catherine. “Please. Please tell me it wasn’t Devimon.”

Catherine nodded yes as she collapsed from exhaustion. 

"T.K. isn't going to like this," Palmon said. Mimi took out her phone.

"Izzy, It's Mimi, we have a really big problem"

\-----

Far away in a hidden area, Gennai, the caretaker of the Digital world, was monitoring these events from his computer.

"It's time," he said.

A man appeared behind him, as if out of thin air. A robe covered his face, but his hands and chin were white as a ghost.

"If you say so," the man said.

The pale man walked over to a mechanical cylinder, a giant machine that took up a good bit of the room. It buzzed and clicked heavily as the man reached for a pin pad. He typed a password, and the cylinder opened; inside were what looked like white cell phones. 

“It looks like they are ready, I’ll pack them up.” The mysterious man said. He lifted the closest one. A thick red X was visible on the back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Devimon was handled so poorly in the reboot. Power levels in general are handled poorly by the reboot. Wait, I think I just hate the reboot.
> 
> P.S. I'm very dyslexic, so i tend to write straight to the point. Don't expect drawn out fights, sorry.


	3. Plans in Motion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I do enjoy the English names better, sorry. I was already in college before I even watched Digimon in Japanese.

"T.K. said that this would happen." Kari said as she and Tai ran down the street, their Digimon right behind them. They were heading to Izzy's as fast as they could.

"Tai, people are staring," Kari said.

"Sorry. My fault" Agumon exclaimed.

"Hopefully the memory fuzzes before someone calls the police.” Tai said as they got to Izzy's house. They ran right past Izzy's mom, into the "HQ" of the DigiDestined. T.K. and Davis were in the room waiting.

"Good you're here. There are several reports of black gears, and Devimon is definitely up to something." Izzy explained. “Most DigiDestined don't know how to purge Digimon. Matt and Sora are already gone."

"I should be too!" T.K. yelled.

"Patamon can only fly so fast, and he had to go get DemiVeemon," Davis said.

"I'm going ahead." Tai said. "You and Gatomon go with Davis." 

"Digi-Port open!" Tai yelled as he disappeared into the computer.

“Destroying black gears is good, but we need to take the fight to Devimon now, before he has any time to complete his plan.”

“That makes sense. We should play on the offensive here.” Izzy said. “Let me see if I can find where he is right now.”

"Some help I'll be without Angewomon" Gatomon said, her ears drooping.

“And no DNA Digivolutions either.” T.K. said as he bit his thumb. “Shakkoumon would have been a big help. If we are fighting him with just champions, Angemon is our only hope.”

“Angemon can’t fight Devimon alone, it’s too risky.” Kari said. “I will not go off and purge black gears if you are fighting.”

"Then I'm coming too, you need all the help you can get." Davis said.

"We're here" DemiVeemon said as he and Patamon flew through the open window.

"Good I have the coordinates set up, it is close to the last sighting of Devimon. Hurry!" Izzy yelled.

T.K, Kari, and Davis held out there D3s went through the portal.

\-----

"Why are we here and not helping at the Tower, my lord?" Dogmon asked. The two of them were still in the same clearing, but the others were nowhere to be seen.

"Because we are the distractions" Devimon said as he adjusted his stance slightly to the left. A sudden beam of light cut right by his head, missing him by an inch. He gave a smug smile toward Dogmon. "And cue the DigiDestined."

Dogmon jumped into the wooded area as Angemon, Nefertimon, and ExVeemon all charged at Devimon. Devimon discharged a dark wave that blasted back Nefertimon and ExVeemon, but Angemon spun his rod to avoid it. Devimon flew up into the air, followed quickly by Angemon. They traded attacks in the air as they weaved a complicated flight pattern, almost like a dance.

ExVeemon and Nefertimon both got up, and looked up at the aggressive fight above them.

"Let's help" ExVeemon said. He spread his wings, but before he could take off, a sucker punch hit him in the face. He landed on an odd pile of vines, and his presence caused the vines to stir. Nefertimon barely dodged a fire blast from the opposite direction.

"So close." said Meramon, as he walked into the clearing from the forest. Nefertimon turned to look at him, just as the tree behind her opened its eyes, revealing itself to be Woodmon.

"Don't worry. I got it." Woodmon says before blasting several wooden shards at Nefertimon, hitting her in the back. She got up off the ground, facing her two assailants. 

"I could use some help" Nefertimon said, she spread her wings and flew into the air, being peppered with fire and wood.

"Me too" ExVeemon yelled. He was wrapped up by hundreds of vines from Vegiemon and was getting punched by the elastic fist of Dogmon.

"That's what we are here for," said Davis, running into the clearing from the safe spot they had been hiding. "De-Digivolve, we need different forms."

ExVeemon transformed back to Veemon, and Nefertimon turned into Gatomon, with a beam of pink light going into Kari's pocket. 

Gatomon fell to the ground, and landed gracefully on her feet, she dodged the flames and wood, reaching Meramon before he had a chance to react.

"Lightning Paw"

Gatomon punched Meramon directly in his jaw. He hit the ground, and Gatomon pounced onto his chest. She stopped moving and made direct eye contact with Meramon, her eyes glowing with pink light.

"Cats-Eye Hypnosis"

Meramon got up with dazed pink eyes. He lifted his arm at Gatomon and a fireball started forming in his hand, but when the fire was charged, he switched targets and blasted Woodmon, setting him ablaze. Woodmon dropped to the ground as the fire went out. Gatomon's eyes returned to normal and Meramon passed out as well. 

Veemon Armor Digivolve to:

Flamdramon!  
The Fire of Courage

Flamdramon lit up, burning Vegiemon and his vines, and jumped toward Dogmon.

"Fire Rocket"

A stream of flames hit Vegiemon, knocking him out.

"That was easy," Flamdramon laughed. Dogmon ran into the bushes.

“Laugh while you can,” Devimon said. He quickly turned his back on Angemon and with a sweeping motion sent a wave of darkness at Gatomon and Flamedramon.

\-----

“What are we looking for?" Digmon asked, flapping his beetle wings furiously to stay airborne.

"I'm not sure. But keep your eyes open" Cody said. Though he had grown the most in the three years, he still was the shortest of the group. He held up his Digivice, there definitely was something nearby, his map showed a large power surge. Wind and sand caught in his hair as they flew through the desert. A large red condor soared nearby.

"You see that Cody?" inquired Yolei. A building in the distance had caught her attention; she and Aquilamon soared higher.

"No, what?" Cody yelled back.

Yolei was too high up to answer, but she pointed in the distance as she and Aquilamon flew ahead. The building looked to be a tower, and as she approached a loud noise filled the air, like construction work.

Yolei watched as the towering column trembled, there was a Drimogemon piercing it near the middle, his tiny drill fingers holding him up.

Drimogemon was carving off a large gemstone, as large as a soccer ball. From the looks of it the pillar had once had several gems, and most had already been detached. A few were freshly cut and lying around the sand at the base. Yolei looked down at her Digivice. It could focus a beam of light, but she didn't know how. So, she decided to go with her usual approach. Aquilamon charged the pillar.

"Give up now and we won't pound you!"

\-----

Devimon was having trouble now. Angemon was hard to defeat, but Flamdramon and Nefertimon made it near impossible to win. A beam of angel light passed by him, with fire coming from the other way, he flew up just to be smacked in the face by a rock. Devimon decided a retreat would be wise. He blasted them back with a quick surge.

"I have places to be now." He said before disappearing in an exploding shadow ball.

"Great!" yelled T.K., "We almost had him!"

"Chill dude" said Davis, "We got him. No champion is going to be a threat to us." T.K. turned and glared at Davis.

"No, you don't get it!" T.K. shouted in his face. "Devimon won't give up; he will give anything to win!"

T.K. climbed on Angemon's back. Kari reached forward and held the cloth on Angemon's belt.

"Where are you going?"

"We are going to find Devimon" T.K. said, not looking at her face.

"Don't do this alone," Kari whispered.

"We can help," Nefertimon added.

"We're faster just the two of us." Angemon said, looking up. He spread his wings out wide, Flamdramon made a grab for him. But he was too slow. T.K. and Angemon flew away, Kari’s now empty hand held up to the sky.

\-----

Drimogemon was drilling as fast as he could, he had already drilled out six of the stones, now he just had to hurry and get out a teal stone. The two Digimon and their DigiDestined were closing in, he had to be quick.

Cody and Yolei were running across the dunes, heading towards the pillar, only to be stopped by an array of knives cutting into the ground. Ninjamon jumped out a sand dune and threw a net around Aquilamon, catching his wings and grounding him. Digmon quickly released drills, but Ninjamon dodged easily.

Yolei charged a Ninjamon with a rock, she threw it as her Digivice turned green. “Digi-Armor Energize.”

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ninjamon laughed as he sliced the rock in half with his kunai knife. Suddenly a shuriken whipped past. Shurimon whipped out of the sand and tried to cut Ninjamon, only to see a sandstorm brew around him.

"Good luck finding me now" Ninjamon laughed shrilly.

"We got this jerk" Yolei yelled to Cody, "go stop Drimogemon."

"You're not stopping anyone; this is no game." yelled a voice. Devimon appeared and blasted Digmon and Shurimon aside, causing them to become Upamon and Poromon. The fight was over before it even began. 

Devimon flew near the pillar, swatting Drimogemon on to the ground and pulling the stone out himself. 

“Be grateful children. The two of you get to witness the end of the Digital World.” Devimon boomed as he held the Teal stone forward. A design resembling a ball inside a ‘U’ etched itself on the stone before it faded to black. The ground around them shook as the other six stones rose off the ground and started to orbit Devimon. As all six of the stones circled him, Devimon became an orb of darkness, radiating a black energy. A huge amount of power erupted into the sky and the shaking ground became a full-fledged earthquake.

Devimon Dark-Digivolve:

FellDevimon.

Cody shivered as the sand began to settle. The air around them had dropped several degrees, almost as if night had come. Where Devimon had floated, there was a new form, the stones nowhere to be seen. 

FellDevimon's body was silver and black in color, and his wings were far bigger, and whole. He wore an eyeless black mask with seven white stars in lieu of a face. Atop his head two curved horns came to wicked points. And even though his left arm had a metal claw that was far larger than reasonable, it was his right arm that had Cody terrified. Blood red nails ended each finger, and it hummed with a dark power that faintly sang a song of despair. Even his spiked boots looked terribly powerful.

The seven stars on his mask shined with assorted colors and shot in different directions. Two lights hit Drimogemon and Ninjamon.

Warp Digivolve!

When the lights died down, they were both in new forms. Both were slightly larger than an adult man, but Drimogemon now had a giant drill for a head and on both arms, while Ninjamon looked like he was in complete samurai armor, only it was a brilliant gold, and a large spear with an energy tip.

"Shogunmon and UltimateDrillmon" Devimon yelled "start cleaning out the DigiWorld of humans."

UltimateDrillmon tore open a hole in reality and flew in, while Shogunmon disappeared in a fury of sand and wind. FellDevimon turned to Yolei and Cody. His hand twitched with anticipation as he sized the two up.

"This will be fun," he said behind his mask. Though Cody could hear his smirk.

\-----

Davis loved what he did.

Don't get him wrong, others being in danger was the last thing he wanted. But if someone had to fight off monsters, he would jump at the chance any day.

Well, except maybe today.

"Get him Flamedramon, he can't get away now!" Davis yelled.

Meramon, Vegiemon and Woodmon had managed to escape the fight, but Dogmon wasn't so lucky. Right now, he was running from a pillar of fire.

"Fire Rocket"

Dogmon barely had time to dodge. He saw a nearby tree and stretched his arm around it like putty, making a giant slingshot, and fired bombs back at them.

"Lightning Paw"

He was nailed in the back by a claw, and fell, his own arm ricocheting into his face.

"Purrrfect" Gatomon said, "Too easy". Her words were cut short when a blue beam fell from the sky, engulfing Dogmon.

Warp Digivolve!

When the light died down, Dogmon was no longer there. What came out was ferocious looking, like a werewolf in armor, and claws like WarGreymon. He was hunched over and foaming at the mouth.

“I am the great predator, Savagemon, and you are my hunt.” The new Digimon snarled.

"Phantom Claw"

Gatomon was clawed in the back, knocking her out. Davis went to turn when Savagemon disappeared, only to cut Flamedramon, reverting him to DemiVeemon.

"Where is he?" Davis yelled, looking in the trees. "He's too fast!"

"Davis let's go!" Kari screamed from a nearby TV, activating a Digi-Port. Davis ran to the portal only to be stopped by Savagemon.

"Go, warn them, and tell them I will hunt them all down. One by one until none of you are left." he snarled, leaving so fast Davis thought he vanished.

Davis hated what he did.

\-----

Izzy couldn't believe what he was seeing. He saw hundreds of DigiDestined fleeing the DigiWorld all at once.

"What's happening?" he cried.

He checked his map and saw there was a trail of interdimensional ports; something was warping around the DigiWorld, picking off DigiDestined. He checked his email.

"127!" His box was full of reports. He checked them, most were explaining a drill monster warping nearby and beating them. But a few describe other Digimon, like a gold samurai or a walking meteor.

He looked at his master keyboard. It could send messages to all d-terminals at once. Only one option was left. 

*Message: evact digital world – all digidestined*

\-----

Garurumon turned his head, carefully as to not knock Matt or Sora off, and shot fire at the pursuing Digimon, only to see it absorbed.

"You can't stop me" it yelled, "I am flame in its purest form. I am Novamon!" he looked like a hunchbacked ape with a meteor for a body. His face and back were on fire, and he had golden rings on both hands.

Birdramon tried to swoop in, but the heat was too intense, she flew back.

"Sora, I can't reach him"

"Get out of there Birdramon." Sora cried. A giant fireball engulfed Birdramon, reverting here to Biyomon as she plummeted to the ground.

"No!" cried Sora, "Matt, turn around."

"It's too late" Matt yelled, "we'll never make it!"

Tentomon Digivolve to:

Kabuterimon!

A giant blue beetle flew out the trees and grabbed Biyomon. At the same time, Izzy jumped out of the trees running to Garurumon, holding his Digivice in one hand, and two duct taped cell phones in the other.

Izzy held the Digivice out as he slammed the cellphones on the ground. A large circle of energy formed on the impact. Garurumon and Kabuterimon passed through it, and Izzy turned to Novamon.

"See you later."

"Sooner than you think human." Novamon retorted, causing Izzy to frown. "Don't think leaving the DigiWorld will save you."

Novamon released two fireballs from his hand, but Izzy dove through the gate before they reached.

\-----

"Ouch"

"Move"

"De-Digivolve"

Izzy came through the portal to find Matt, Sora, Davis, Kari, Gatomon, DemiVeemon, Biyomon, Kabuterimon and Garurumon all crammed in his room.

"Ahhh!"

Everyone who could turned their heads, Izzy's mom had walked in to see Garurumon's face.

"Sorry mom!" Izzy yelled as the champions transformed back. Izzy's mom approved of the Digimon, but didn’t appreciate giant wolves and bugs in her house.

"I think we are in trouble," Kari said.

"I'm sure Izzy's mom will get over it," Davis added. Matt slapped him on the side of the head.

"She means the mega level Digimon attacking" he said. "They aren't going to beat themselves"

Sora looked around the room. They were quite a few DigiDestined short.

"Where are the others?" she asked Izzy, who was busy trying to get Davis's D3 out of his hand, and failing miserably.

"Joe and Ken left from their summer classes, Cody and Yolei went in first, and I haven't heard from Tai" he sighed. "Davis give me it!"

"Why? You have your own" Davis cried.

"I need information on these mega levels, and I assume you saw one. So, give me that" Izzy explained, while snatching it out of Davis's hand. He placed it into a socket on his computer.

"Alright the Digimon you fought was Savagemon, mega form of Dogmon. His sense of smell is super, and he moves faster than any other Digimon. His attack is Phantom Claw." He changed it to his D3.

"And the other one was Novamon. He was once Meramon. He generates heat so intense that only fire based Digimon can get close, and is immune to fire himself. His strongest attack is Infinity Inferno."

“This is Devimon, it has to be”, Kari said from Izzy’s bed. “This many Megas is never something we have had to deal with, I don’t know if we can.”

"And we don’t even have DNA or Ultimates on our side this time." Sora added. "How can we win?"

\-----

Numemon stood in a sewer. This was his home. The big mean guy had said something to him, but Numemon forgot. A brown light poured from a nearby manhole and coated him in its power. The light died and Numemon looked at his hand nub, it was grey. It wasn’t grey before, maybe? Numemon flapped his wings and flew forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These fight scenes were some of the oldest I wrote, a decade old at least. I was always upset the Champion forms usurped the Armor forms.


	4. A Reckless Act

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter it becomes very clear I didn't want to design any OC Digimon, and blatantly stole from Megaman BN3.

Stingmon and Ikkakumon were not going to win this fight. The gold armored Digimon they were trying to fight was not even acknowledging their attacks. Ken and Joe were nearby tending to two French DigiDestined, who had been attacked by this new enemy. 

“One more minute, that’s all you get” the Digimon sighed disappointingly. He stood perfectly still as Stingmon stabbed at his chest. 

“Ikkakumon, try hitting him again,” Stingmon said as he flew into the air. The walrus Digmon lowered his horn and pointed it at their attacker. 

“Harpoon Torpedo”

Three explosives hit the enemy point blank, but when the dust cleared, he was standing unaffected.

“Remember this name humans.” The Digimon said, whipping dust off his pauldrons. “I am Shogunmon, and other than my Lord FellDevimon, I am the strongest Digimon you will ever face.”

“Shogunmon huh? Well we are the DigiDestined, and we defeated MaloMyotismon, Apocalymon and even Diaboromon.” Joe said as he opened a portal, ushering the two French DigiDestined and their partners through. 

“Impressive acts, sure. But you still only get 30 more seconds to impress me.” Shogunmon taunted. 

Shogunmon pulled a black rod off his back, and a silver energy tip appeared on the end, creating a spearhead. He didn’t call any attack, or even move from where he was standing, he simply flicked the spear outward, and Stingmon and Ikkakumon became Gomamon and Wormmon.

“Wormmon!” Ken cried as his partner hit the ground. Joe and Ken ran forward and grabbed their partners. 

“15 seconds left.” Shogunmon said. “Then I get serious.”

“We will defeat you in the end. We always do.” Joe said, cradling Gomamon’s unconscious form in his arms. Ken had started to run to the gate, as Joe stood and stared Shogunmon down. 

“I look forward to your next attempt.” Shogunmon said. “Five seconds.”

Joe turned and ran towards the open gate.

\-----

Ken stood in Izzy’s room, where he had redirected the portal. Izzy, Kari, Gatomon and Mrs. Izumi were all in the room. Ken turned to the screen, knowing that Joe should have been right behind him. What was realistically 3 seconds felt like an eternity, until Joe and Gomamon erupted from the computer. 

“Thank goodness you four are all right.” Izzy said as he took the unconscious Gomamon from Joe and placed him on the bed. Wormmon had de-Digivolved into Minomon like normal, but was still passed out as well. “I will message the others that you two are back.”

Ken took stock of the room, Kari was sitting down and being comforted by Mrs. Izumi and Gatomon. 

“Where are the others?” Ken asked. 

“Tentomon is in the kitchen making hot chocolate,” Mrs. Izumi said calmly. “I sent most of your other friends home, there is no point in staying here worrying. You four should get home too, see your parents and get some sleep.” 

“Yolei, Cody, Tai, and T.K. never returned.” Kari added. Her eyes were red; clearly, she had been crying. “I’m not leaving until they are back.” 

“Yolei is…” Ken started to say. “If you don’t mind Mrs. Izumi, I would like to stay too.” 

“I understand.” She said, patting the seat next to her. “Joe, you should at least get going. Izzy will call you if anything changes.” 

Joe nodded, he had read a book that talked about grief and worry. Though it was intended for a doctor's bedside manner, he knew his presence here would just increase tension.

“Thank you, Mrs. Izumi.” Joe said as he picked up his sleeping partner. “For everything.” 

\-----

Nobody slept well that night, so it was no surprise that everyone answered their phones the second Izzy called. “The docks, we have an open Digi-Port.”

Subtly, though usually a big concern for the kids, was off the table that night. Birdramon, Stingmon and Nefertimon would almost certainly make the news as they flew through the metro area. 

All the kids arrived and searched the dock thoroughly, but every time they went to where Izzy’s program pointed, they found nothing, and a different portal opened half a mile away. Izzy was not sure what was wrong with his program, but it was reporting portals at far too great of a frequency to be possible. Suddenly he remembered Novamon’s threat, causing him to break out in a sweat. “Guys, I think we have a problem. I think this is a trap.” 

“Look at that, the hunters finally learned they were the hunted.” Savagemon appeared in front of them with a devious cackle. Behind him was a blue portal, and UltimateDrillmon hid inside.   
UltimateDrillmon sealed the portal back up behind him. “Take care of them, I shall report back to the master”, his voice echoed. 

The DigiDestined wasted no time, and several shining lights erupted at once.

Gabumon, Tentomon, Biyomon, Palmon, Gomamon, Betamon, Wormmon, Veemon   
Digivolve to:

Gatomon Armor Digivolve to:

As the shining lights grew all the Digimon larger, Savagemon swiped his hand, and blue crescents erupted out and sliced the larger forms. The Digimon were blasted back to their rookie forms. 

The children stood in shock, before Davis ran out and grabbed Veemon’s unconscious form. Savagemon was in front of Davis at a moment’s notice.

“Ravaging Claw”

Time seemed to stand still for everyone as Savagemon ran his claw into Davis’s jacket. A crack filled the air as Davis screamed in pain. Savagemon widened his eyes in shock, and removed his claw. The cracked remains of Davis’s D-Terminal attached to the end. 

“Your stupid toy saved you once, but it can’t save you again.”

Before Savagemon could strike, his ears perked up and he jumped through the air. A car rushed through the spot he had just stood. Savagemon landed softly as the car swerved around and barreled towards him again. Tai’s spiky hair was unmistakable from the driver’s seat.

“Phantom Claw”

Tai jumped out of the car last second as Savagemon ripped it apart with spectral arms. Agumon in hand, Tai rolled across the ground. As the car exploded into metal shards, Tai hoped to his feet and charged Savagemon, pointing his partner forward.

“Pepper Breath”   
“Pepper Breath”   
“Pepper Breath” 

Savagemon didn’t bother moving as the tiny flares bounced off his body. As Tai approached, the gap was suddenly closed by Savagemon. With his mighty claw, he knocked Agumon aside and lifted Tai into the air. 

“Why human? I would have found you soon enough, why waste your life on this reckless act?” Savagemon growled. Unbeknownst to him, a small red egg with a curved spike had materialized atop the remains of Davis’s crush D3. The entire egg grew hot with power, and disintegrated into an orange light. The beam of light flew through the night and engulfed Tai. Savagemon flinched, but held strong as the orange aura pushed him back. 

Tai smirked, recognizing the power that was flowing through him. “It’s not called recklessness when it’s to protect my friends, it’s Courage!” 

Agumon WARP Digivolve to:  
. . . .   
WarGreymon

Agumon didn't even take a second to reveal in his old form, wasting no time rushing toward the surprised Savagemon. 

“Terra Destroyer”

WarGreymon spun his body into a twister and slammed into Savagemon and Tai. As Savagemon flew into the bay, the twister stopped and WarGreymon had Tai in his hands. He flew to the other children and set Tai down. “Stay here Tai.”

WarGreymon flew through the bay looking for his opponent. A water spout blinded WarGreymon, and Savagemon was on his back in seconds. 

“Ravaging Claw”

Savagemon ran his claws over WarGreymon’s back, but his shield took a brute of the force. WarGreymon spun his body into a twister, but Savagemon was ready and hoped off.

As the two danced around in a fast and deadly fight, Savagemon turned his attention to the children.

“Maybe I can’t beat you, but you can’t catch me. And you left some valuable targets exposed.”

“Phantom Claw”

Two large ethereal claws erupted from Savagemon’s arms. WarGreymon pivoted and made a grab for them. His arm brace sliced through the first, but the second one flew at the children with surprising speed. 

“Hand of Fate”

A piercing light cut through the darkness and knocked the other claw off course. WarGreymon turned to the other side of the bay. Angemon flew through the air and stopped next to them. 

“Great to see you again WarGreymon, sorry I’m late.” Angemon smirked. “I’ll guard the children, teach this fiend a lesson”

“Will do!” WarGreymon responded.

“Terra Force”

A large orb of energy barreled towards Savagemon, but he dodged easily. WarGreymon and Savagemon traded slashes and parries at an amazing speed. 

From the dock the children were watching, Tai’s aura flared higher as WarGreymon landed hits. T.K., Yolei, and Cody ran up next to them. Digi-Eggs were in Cody and Yolei’s arms. 

“Hey guys, are you all okay?” T.K. asked. “I found Yolei and Cody, but Devimon was already gone.”

Kari ran forward and embraced T.K. “I’m just glad you are alright.” She said with tears in her eyes. “Agumon managed to Digivolve, we can win this fight.”

“It all means nothing if we can’t catch Savagemon” Tai growled. “He just moves too fast. We need a way to pin him down.” 

“I have an idea,” Angemon said from above. “When you first summoned the power to create WarGreymon, you all did something special that day. You used the power of your Crest to bind VenomMyotismon. Tai, you now glow with that same power, if we could recreate that...”

“It’s worth a try,” Gatomon said, turning to the other Digimon. “I will get Tai close; you guys watch our backs.”

WarGreymon continued his fight through the darkness, when he saw several familiar shapes in the darkness.

“Ice Winder”  
“Harpoon Torpedo”

WarGreymon grabbed Savagemon and threw him into the explosion of ice shards. Seadramon and Ikkakumon circled in the water below. High above a protective formation of fliers surrounded Nefertimon. A shining orange light was visible on her back. 

Savagemon huffed. “If you are all so eager to die, be my guest.”

“Phantom Claw” 

“Meteor Wing”  
“Electro Shocker”

The attacks collided in midair and created a large shockwave that blew Birdramon and Kabuterimon back. Savagemon used the cover or the explosion to shoot forward at the formation.

“Ravaging Claw”

“Spiking Strike”

Stingmon’s stinger hit Savagemon’s claws. Stingmon immediately reverted to Wormmon and fell toward the water below. Ex-Veemon flew after him. Savagemon started to follow when WarGreymon caught his leg. 

“Hey buddy, we were still dancing.”

Savagemon sliced at WarGreymon’s arms and floated away. “This seems like a fight we will have to continue another day.” He sneered. “UltimateDrillmon, I need an evacuation.” He started to dash away from the group.

“NO. YOU. DON’T!” Yelled Tai. His aura became a tentacle of orange light, and lashed out at Savagemon. Savagemon had no time to react as his neck was bound tight and he was stopped in his tracks.

“It’s time to end this” WarGreymon bellowed. 

“Terra Force”

The sounds of Savagemon’s cries filled the air as the ball of energy disintegrated his body. An orb of teal light remained where he had been. As WarGreymon flew to investigate the orb, a portal opened next to it and UltimateDrillmon leaned out. 

“Disappointing” He huffed, he grabbed the orb and closed the portal behind him. 

And it was over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Savagemon was originally based of Beastman in the earliest versions of the story. Shogunmon was Japanman, but gold. UltimateDrillmon was, well, Drillman. Novamon was VERY loosely based on Flameman, but as an ape instead of a robot.


	5. Tower of Virtue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the Exposition dump. :(

“Stop pulling my hair!” Kari complained. The DigiDestined had all arrived at Izzy’s house first thing in the morning. Tentomon and the other Digimon were piled in the next room napping, after such a hard-fought battle last night.

“Well obviously I would if I could. This thing doesn't do so well with confined spaces.” Tai said. An orange tentacle of light was coming off Tai. The aura around him had weakened from the night before, but it was still there and being a nuisance if Tai let his thoughts wander. It had recently taken to grabbing things. 

“I've called Gennai to see what he could tell us about this.” Izzy yawned. Izzy had dark under eye bags, and looked like he hadn't slept. Which he hadn't.

“I still don’t see why we had to come all the way back out here, after everything that went down last night.” Joe whined. Sora armed Joe hard. “What did I do?” he asked.

“Don’t be so bratty, some people had a much worse time yesterday.” She jerked her head towards Yolei and Cody. They both still looked terribly shaken, having been the only two to meet FellDevimon.

“Sorry guys.” Joe apologized. 

“Alright everyone, I think I have it all set up.” Izzy exclaimed.

Izzy turned his laptop to his desktop, a bright light filled the room as a beam connected the two monitors. When the light died down Gennai was there. He still looked just as young as he did last time, but was wearing a button-up and pants. A Classic Digivice pattern adorned the shirt. 

“Hello friends, me and Izzy spent the better part of the morning speaking. I believe you are owed an explanation of what happened last night”

“What I want to know is where you got that outfit. Super cute!” Mimi interrupted. 

“Oh this? I was explaining how I portray my appearance to a friend. I ended up finding one I liked.” Gennai laughed. “But back on topic. Settle down because this is a lot of information.”

“What you need to know first is that energy cannot be destroyed in the Digital World, only reconstituted into a new form. That's why Digimon reform into eggs. The Power of Courage has existed in some form or another since the start of the Digital world. It was originally part of the Tower of Virtue, an ancient and holy part of the Digital World. Tai has already used the power as a Crest, and now it exists within him.” Gennai explained

“But that aura came from my D-Terminal, not the Crest.” Davis chipped in. He had the Armor Digi-Egg of Friendship in his hand. It had fallen out of the remains of his D-Terminal later that night, and he couldn’t get it back in. 

“That's the beauty of this power. They can be shaped to what is needed. The Ore of Courage was found by the first five DigiDestined, it was then entrusted to my organization, who made it into a Crest. Apocalymon destroyed the Crest, and Tai himself absorbed it, similar to what he’s doing now. Tai and the others sacrificed that power to restore the Digital World, and when it was done, an Armor Digi-Egg was created. Davis had that power all along, and now it is back with Tai.” Gennai continued

“Wait, so you're saying that this is my Crest?” Matt exclaimed. 

Matt grabbed the Digi-Egg of Friendship that Davis held and let out an excited laugh. 

“Well yes but...” Gennai began. 

“You ready buddy? It's been too long.” Matt asked an equally excited Gabumon. They nodded to each other and Matt pulled his Digivice out.

“Gabumon WARP!” Gabumon yelled aloud, before stopping himself, embarrassed. The egg stayed inert.

“I'm afraid the powers may be asleep. Armor Digivolution only takes a fraction of their energy. I believe an act of Friendship will be needed to awaken it once more.”

“So is there anything we can do for Tai, this power makes for a terrible housemate.” Kari asked.

“That's where my friend will be taking over. I ask that you all keep an open mind about him.”

Gennai turned the computers to each other, and once again a bright light filled the room. A tall pale figure stepped out of the light, briefcase in hand. He let out a familiar laugh and waved at the children.

“Owikawa!? But we saw you die dude!” David exclaimed.

The man lifted his face, he was unmistakably the former villain Owikawa, but he looked much different than last time the group had seen him. Years of obsession had turned Owikawa into a walking shade, unsettling to the people around him. But that was not the man before them today, his skin was still pale, but healthier. His hair was in a neat ponytail, and his face held a soft and genuine smile. He wore the same outfit as Gennai, creating almost a uniform for them.

“Indeed. It’s good to see you all again. I may have “died” before you all, but I used my energy to help heal the Digital World. As Gennai has already explained, nothing is ever truly gone in the Digital World, just recycled. So, for two years I had no physical form. Gennai found me last year and taught me how to manifest myself. I may not be a human anymore, and I’m not a Digimon either, but I am still alive and have something that may be of interest to you all. Gennai has made a myriad of Digivices over the years, but as miraculous as they are, there is always room for improvement. I used my knowledge of the Digital World to help create something to fight whatever threats may come to pass. This revival of Devimon seems to fit the bill.”

Owikawa reached into his pocket and pulled out a pure white electronic, it was a flat square with a diamond screen just showing blue static. A red X covered the back of the box. He handed it to Tai.

“This is the third generation of the Digivice. I call it the Dfinity. It has all the capacity of the D3, as well as the D-Terminal and the Tags that the eight of you once used. We even included some new features. Tai, focus on your idea of what Courage is.”

Tai shut his eyes, and before everybody's eyes, the Aura seeped into the Dfinity. What had been white was now a soft orange, and the screen came to life with information on Digimon Tai had never even seen. He flipped it over. Where the once jarring X had been was now the symbol of Courage.

Gennai picked up the briefcase and opened it, 7 Dfinity were carefully displayed. “We only have ones for the original DigiDestined, though we hope to have more made before this is all said and done.”

“Now then, can everyone with an Armor Digi-Egg please hold out your D-Terminal.” Gennai said. 

Yolei, Cody, T.K. and Kari all held up their D-Terminals. 6 Digi-Egg appeared in front of the children. Matt held the Friendship egg in front of him, and the 7 eggs dissolved into a cloud of rainbow powder. The cloud was sucked into the briefcase, and the remaining Dfinity sprang to life.

The children stepped forward and took their new Digivices. 

“This is the edge we need. With this we can stand a chance” T.K said solemnly as he held the yellow Dfinity in his hand.

“Gennai, if Owikawa is a human who died on the Digital World, what are you?” Patamon asked from atop T.K.’s hat.

“That story will come in good time old friend. For now, we need to go to the four Hidden Palaces of the Digital World. Azulongmon and the other sovereigns are waiting, and they have our key to victory.”

“I’ll get a Digiport set up!” Izzy declared, alert from all the new information. 

“No wait!” Gennai said with a smile. “I have something better.”

\-----

A vast desert stood untouched in the center of the Digital World, the only thing in sight was the Tower of Virtue, completely stripped and falling apart. Suddenly the air sprang to life and an outline of the Crest of Knowledge formed. The Crest rotated and opened into a circle, and Gennai, Owikawa, and the children came through. Only the original eight DigiDestined had come. With Hawkmon and Armadillomon still in their baby form, Yolei and Cody would have been powerless. At Gennai’s request, Michael, Davis and Ken had stayed behind as well. UltimateDrillmon was still at large, and they would be needed to defend Japan in case another portal was opened. 

“Instant portals! A feature I have been hoping to get for a while now.” Gennai said as he tossed the Digivice back to Izzy. The group hiked through the sand towards the Tower. 

“Here we are,” Gennai said as the group approached the pillar. “This was once a magnificent sight to behold, the most powerful structure in all of existence. The ore from this pillar have been used throughout the ages, sometimes sparingly, but twice now a large number of them have been ripped away at once.”

“This is where our Crest came from?” Izzy asked.

“Indeed it is'' Gennai continued. “In the beginning of the Digital World, 15 rainbow stones graced this pillar, each a facet of goodness in their own way. But the real prize was at the top; three golden ores more powerful than the rest. Long before its power was realized, Digimon could only reach the Mega level within the Wall of Fire. These Digimon were steeped in evil, and terrorized the Digi-world. It was the very first 5 children who came to the Digital World who discovered the pillar. They removed 8 of the stones to combat the darkness, the very 8 you now have.”

“Gennai, not that I don’t love a history lesson, but what does any of this have to do with fighting Devimon?” Tai asked. 

“Because every virtue; Friendship, Love, even Hope, has the power to make a Digimon Digivolve to Mega. But for that to work, the virtue must be whole, and the eight of you have only been using half of the Crest power. Until you find the rest, Ultimate is as high as you can go.”

“Except me and Gabumon can Warp Digivolve” Agumon interrupted. 

“But the two of you didn’t just use the power of Courage and Friendship.” Gennai laughed. “If you recall, it was I who found the prophecy you used to Warp for the first time. The first part of the prophecy was very real, and it told the story of Myotismon’s revival. I knew you wouldn’t be able to fight a Mega at your current power, so I made a gamble. I made the second part up. I had faith that Izzy would decode the “prophecy”, and give T.K. and Kari a way to bolster your power. Hope and Light are now intrinsically linked to Friendship and Courage. It was one of my better ideas” 

“So how do we get the rest of this power?” Mimi asked, already dreaming up her own Mega Digimon. Palmon looked equally excited by the concept.

“Four of the Digimon the children used back then stayed in their Mega forms, and have protected the digital world as the Sovereigns. The eight of you need to split up and meet with the Sovereigns and convince them to relinquish that power.” 

“Me and Kari need to see Azulongmon, right?” T.K. said. “Last time we saw him he said Hope and Light were his source of power.”

“Correct, his hidden palace is to the east” Gennai said. “Izzy and Mimi will go to the north and meet Ebonwumon. Ebonwumon is very wise and should see you coming. Matt and Joe will go west and meet with Baihumon, he is powerful and loyal. Tai and Sora have the hardest job, the Sovereign of the south is Zhuqiaomon. She is very loving, but her pride is only matched by her foolhardiness.” 

Before their eyes Gennai and Owikawa started to fade away. “The sovereign’s will see this as a test, so from here the eight of you are on your own. Good luck!” Gennai’s voice echoed. 

“Wait Gennai, how do we find them!” Matt yelled. But Gennai was gone and the eight children and their Digimon were alone. 

“Well I propose we split up!” Tai announced. “Gennai told us what way we needed to go, so let’s do it. Biyomon, mind giving us a ride?”

“Wait Tai, we can’t just go into this recklessly!” Matt argued. “Devimon has a new mega form, and I doubt any of us can take him alone. We can’t just split up. We need to stick together!”

Tai shot a confused look at Matt. “Calm down Matt, why are you freak... Oh.” Tai smirked. “You are trying to get you Crest to wake up with an act of friendship.”

Matt blushed. “I mean... we need to make sure everyone is safe.”

“I personally don’t believe the palaces are in a physical space.” Izzy chimed in. “We have been all over the Digital World and have never even seen one of them. Azulongmon appeared out of thin air at the destruction of the Destiny Stones, so I imagine the sovereigns are on a plane of the Digi-world parallel to this one.”

As Izzy said this, his pocket flared to life with a violet light. He reached into his pocket in surprise; the Dfinity had a compass on it, and a brilliant purple arrow was facing North. 

“Prodigious” He exclaimed. “The new Digivice reacted to my sense of knowledge, it looks like it's pointing the way we need to go.” Mimi leaned over to look. 

“That’s just what we need,” Tai said. Tai and T.K. whipped their Dfinitys. Tai faced his out forward in a grand gesture, and T.K. closed his eyes and held his to his heart. Yellow and orange needles flared to life. Matt looked impatiently at Joe and cleared his throat. 

“Huh, what?” Joe asked, unsure of what Matt was going at. 

“Make a compass Joe. I can’t exactly Friendship my way to Baihumon.” 

“Oh yeah, I guess it is up to me.” Joe took a long look at his Dfinity and took a deep breath. A tiny silver arrow was pointing to the west.

“So, it's settled. We split up, find the Sovereigns, and then kick Devimon’s butt!” Tai said facing the group.

\-----

Cody went home to lie in bed, feeling useless. FellDevimon hadn’t killed him, but he was so scared he would. Tsubumon, the baby form of Armadillomon, laid on the side of his bed. He had hatched earlier today, but Cody wasn’t ready to jump back into the Digital World just yet. They were supposed to meet with Yolei and the others later today, so they were taking a quick nap. Just as he was ready to fall asleep, a blue light woke him up. A tiny Digi-Portal had opened in his room, and a flower bud had sprouted from it. 

Cody would normally have a thousand questions about this, but a soothing smell filled the room, and Cody felt a sense of serenity. He walked up to the bud, and just as he went to touch it, it bloomed into a beautiful yellow flower.  
The flower whispered to him, “Oh youngest child, and oldest heart. Hear my plea and use this to fight the oncoming darkness. The power of the Crest needs a master.”

As Cody went to open his mouth in response, a soft teal light came from the center of the flower, and it formed into a Crest. The Crest was shaped like a thick curved U, and a ball in the center, like a pair of hands hand cupping something. Cody picked up the Crest as the flower wilted. The soft voice filled the room again

“Its power is your, but this secret must be kept. Telling anyone will wilt its power away.”

Cody sat back on his bed, unsure of what just happened. But he knew now he had an edge. His D-3 gave a teal pulse, and Tsubumon Digivolve all the way to Armadillomon, still sound asleep. He lied down and closed his eyes, but he knew he wouldn’t rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise it's character and action driven for the next few chapters. Also I grew up with American versions of the Crest, so Mimi and Joe are Sincerity and Reliability


	6. Thoughts on Friendship

“Why can’t the western front of the digital world be a nice beach or a suburb?” Joe whined as he pushed heavy vines to the side. The group of Joe, Gomamon, Matt, and Gabumon trekked through a thick jungle, only stopping for Joe to check his Digivice for directions. They had been walking in circles for almost an hour and still hadn’t seen anything that looked like a palace. 

Matt followed behind Joe, thoughts on his impossible task. An act of great friendship would awaken his Crest, but anything he did for his friends he had it on his mind. He had already tried everything he could think of that had worked in the past, but the Crest wouldn’t respond. Matt felt himself starting to lose hope. None of them noticed the thorny vines that seemed to be getting more common, or the slightly purple fog that hung in the air. 

“Now it’s saying South again, there is no way we missed it” Joe exclaimed. 

“We are walking in circles, maybe it’s broken” Gomamon chirped. 

“Matt what do you think?” Joe asked. Matt silently hung back and didn’t answer. Joe got annoyed at Matt, and said again with a bit more force, “Matt, what do you think?”

“What if” Matt started. “What if we aren’t strong enough to fight these new Megas?”

Joe took the thought in. “I know what you mean, it’s easy to talk a big game, but the strongest Digimon I’ve ever beaten alone was a MegaSeadramon.”

“But what about our new Mega form?” Gomamon asked. “I bet with that I could beat up Shogunmon!” 

“Shogunmon?” Gabumon asked.

“One of Devimon’s servants. We fought him last night. He claimed he was even stronger than MaloMyotismon” Joe replied. “And the scary part is, I believe him.”

“I think…” Matt started to say

“I THINK” a voice interrupted. “I’ve grown bored with following you two around.” The voice echoed from around them.

Joe and Matt snapped to attention, and stood back to back with their Digivices out. Behind them a large purple flower erupted, and a tall humanoid Digimon stood from out of the center. His ‘hair’ was a white flower, and his body looked like he was wearing a fitted green and white suit, with loose sleeves hiding his hands. But what drew attention was two powerful vines covered in thorns that weaved from out of his back. 

“I am Thornmon” he said with a dramatic flair. “I was a useless Vegiemon until Lord FellDevimon graced me with his power. Now to pay my lord back, I will destroy the two of you and collect Baihumon’s power for myself.” Thornmon flourished and posed as he spoke. 

Gabumon/Gomamon Digivolve to:

Ikkakumon!

Garurumon!

The two Digimon wasted no time, they leapt into the fray and tried to get a hit on Thornmon. Thornmon gracefully dodged both the large Digimon with his superior speed. 

Joe turned to Matt. “Ready to try the next level?”

Matt nodded “Yeah, yeah I can still do that.” Both Digivices began to glow with silver and blue light. 

Garurumon/Ikkakumon Digivolve to:

WereGarurumon!

Zudomon!

The newly formed Ultimates struck a battle-ready pose. Thornmon covered his mouth in mock surprise. 

“Oh no! Two Ultimates!” He teased. “Whatever will little Thornmon do?”

“Lotus Cutter” 

Thornmon whipped his sleeves forward, and two razor sharp lotus flowers flew out. WereGarurumon jumped over one, and Zudomon deflected the other with his hammer. 

“Oh, so you have some fight in you.” Thornmon purred. A large pink flower petal came out both sleeves. He struck a battle stance, and the thorny vines in his back weaved into a circle around him. “Good.”

Zudomon threw his hammer like a boomerang, but Thornmon dodged it with a turn. WereGarurumon used the opportunity to close the distance.

“Wolf Kick”

WereGarurumon kicked one of the pink blades out of Thornmon’s hand, but in that moment the other blade came down on him. 

“Vulcan's Hammer”

The silver hammer hit true this time, striking Thornmon’s arm and giving WereGarurumon an out. 

“Enough playing with my food, time to end this.” Thornmon said, clearly agitated. 

“World of Thorns”

The two vines on Thornmon’s back dug into the ground, and suddenly a large mass of green bramble erupted outward. The bramble spread quickly, grabbing Zudomon and binding him tight. WereGarurumon jumped up, avoiding the bramble initially, but thorns shot from the mass towards him. He kicked two out the air and dove towards Thornmon. 

“Wolf Claw”

Thornmon dodged, but the red claw marks cut the vines beneath him, giving WereGarurumon a spot to land. 

The bramble still moved forward towards Joe and Matt. As the vines would have overtaken them, Joe held his Dfinity out. A silver cross burned into the ground, and the thorns passed over them.

“Matt, we need MetalGarurumon, now!” Joe yelled, his silver energy holding strong. Zudomon struggled against the vines, but the thorns dug into his side and he howled in pain. WereGarurumon kicked at Thornmon, but the flamboyant Digimon danced around him, cutting WereGarurumon slightly with his lotus blades. The bramble on the ground around them started to close in again. 

Matt panicked. He knew Zudomon needed his help, but Friendship on a battlefield was eluding him. Everything would fail and it was all his fault. A single tear fell from his face, “I can’t do it!” he yelled. 

Suddenly a hole erupted below Matt, in the center of the silver cross. Matt let out a surprised yell as he fell, WereGarurumon leapt away from Thornmon with a kick and chased after Matt. 

WereGarurumon jumped head first into the hole, falling as fast as he could to reach Matt. He saw Matt below him, flailing wildly. He reached out and grabbed Matt, embracing for a fall. But as they fell he noticed that they were slowing down. He corrected his stance, and the two of them landed gently on their feet. A large Aztec temple surrounded them, and in the center of the room, a large white tiger was lying down. The tiger was surrounded by orbs, and wore a mask that showed four eyes glaring towards them. The air was electric in the room. This Digimon was clearly one of great power, even stronger than Thornmon. WereGarurumon struck a pose and was ready to defend Matt, but the tiger just chuckled. 

“Calm down little pup.” The tiger Digimon roared. As he did, WereGarurumon found himself drained of power, and became Gabumon again. 

“You two are here for my power. I am the great Sovereign of the West. I am Baihumon” he roared. 

“Joe!” Matt panicked. “You took us from the fight! He needs us!” 

Baihumon let out a laugh. “Just what I expect from my Champion of Friendship. Don’t worry kid, time flows as I wish here in my realm. I took you out of the fight to see why you wouldn’t let Gabumon Digivolve to Mega.”

“Because I’m not a good friend. It’s all these dramatic acts and I can’t recreate them. I’m just being fake and selfish.”

“You still don’t get it, do you kid?” Baihumon chuckled. “Friendship is in everything you do. It isn’t some fiery virtue like Courage or Love.” Baihumon rose and stretched his legs in a decidedly catlike fashion. “The only reason you can’t get your Crest to glow is the doubt that is plaguing you. The Crest knows you're worthy, I know you're worthy, the only one questioning here is you!” 

“But if I’m trying to force it to work...” Matt started to object.

“There you go again!” Baihumon roared. “Intent is important sometimes, but so is the act itself. If you keep overthinking everything, you can never really be there for others. You would always be there for you friends, even without my power. But only when you act! You have grown into a fine Champion of Friendship, and it has never been in question if you still had what it takes.” Baihumon’s body glowed silver and blue as he spoke.

“But Gennai said...” Matt started to say before he was cut off.

“Bah” Baihumon roared in disgust. “What does that fool know of friendship? You should realize you have a lifelong friend with you all the time.” He nodded towards Gabumon as his body unraveled in the light. 

“He’s right, Matt. I’m here with you, and you’re here with me, that’s all we need.” Gabumon said.

Matt wiped the tear from his cheek. He held his Digivice with a newfound confidence. A blue light filled the room, and Gabumon was flooded with power.

Gabumon WARP Digivolve to:  
. . . .   
MetalGarurumon!

“Good job kid. You didn’t even need me.” Baihumon said. His body had now lost its focus, becoming an aurora of blue and silver ribbons. “Use my power well, take care of Thornmon, and let Joe know that being reliable isn’t always about being what you are expected to be.” Baihumon’s body unraveled, and the blue light homed in on Matt’s Dfinity. The silver light picked up Matt and MetalGarurumon and shot upward as the temple started to collapse, no longer held by Baihumon’s power. 

Matt and MetalGarurumon erupted back onto the battlefield as the silver light flew to Joe. Joe fell to his knees as the silver light was absorbed, and when the light died down, Joe was holding a Digi-Egg. Now that he was in the fight, MetalGarurumon wasted no time, immediately opening all his silos and guns.

“Ice Wolf Claw”

Missiles shot out every which way and froze the entire forest, and Thornmon’s vines became brittle. Zudomon flexed and the vines he was tangled in snapped from the cold.

“Vulcan’s Hammer”

Zudomon slammed on the ground with his hammer and a golden shockwave erupted outward. Afterwards the five of them stood in a clearing. MetalGarurumon had protected Joe and Matt, but the rest of the area had been blasted apart by the two Digimon. Thornmon looked at them with fear in his eyes.

“No, no, no. I am not going to be defeated here.” Thornmon cried as he sent out two more bladed lotuses. MetalGarurumon sent out twin missiles and in the resulting explosion, Thornmon vanished. 

Matt let out a laugh as MetalGarurumon and Zudomon de-Digivolved. 

“That was amazing Joe!” Matt said. 

“What? You were the one with the Mega.” Joe said, adjusting his glasses. Baihumon’s egg filling his arms.

“Yeah, but I was such a spaz, you really too control.” Matt said. “And now, with the power you got from Baihumon, Shogunmon doesn’t stand a chance.”

“Oh yeah!” Gomamon yelled hopping up and down. “Mega power! I hope I turn into a dinosaur!” 

“A dinosaur?” Joe and Matt asked at the same time.

“Gomamon, that doesn’t even make sense” Gabumon added. 

\-----

Armadillomon had been surprised by his form when he woke up from his nap, but Cody hadn’t told him anything. He wasn’t even sure why he couldn’t tell, if he had a Crest that was a good thing, right? He considered letting Armadillomon know, but the thought of being powerless once more left him speechless. 

“Wait up!” Yolei ran up to Cody, Poromon in her arms. 

“Hey Cody, Pururumon hatched last night, and with a big lunch just managed to Digivolve, has Tsubumon hatched yet?”

“Psst, over here Yolei” Armadillomon whispered from the alley. Yolei turned and was visibly surprised to see the rookie there. 

“Uhh, yeah, um, Upamon had a big lunch too. He must be getting stronger because he Digivolved to rookie here in the real world right after.” Cody stammered. Armadillomon looked confused by the lie, but decided not to say anything. 

“He was much harder to sneak past my mom, being this big.” Cody added. He put his hand in his pocket as he walked, feeling the warm power of the Crest.

“Oh, are you back to hiding Digimon stuff from your mom?” Yolei asked, tilting her head. “I know Davis, Joe and Mimi find it easier.”

“Yeah, it will keep her safer if anything were to happen.” Cody replied. 

“Cody, are you okay?” Yolei asked, feeling the tension from her best friend. 

“I’m fine” He lied. “Let’s get going, Noriko and the others are waiting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this way back before queer coding villains made me upset. Alas, I love Thornmon too much to change him.


	7. Burning Love

“We're going in circles.” Agumon said, annoyed. Birdramon was flying across a mountain range in the south of the Digital world, the other three riding on her talons. 

Sora and Tai looked at each other, but said nothing. The two of them hadn’t spent much time alone in the last few years. Tai still had feelings for Sora, and it wasn’t a secret to either of them. 

“I'm sure this is where the compass was pointing.” Tai said. The needle on his Dfinity was spinning around in circles, unsure of where to point. 

“Maybe it's beneath one of the mountains?” Sora suggested.

“Or higher up.” Birdramon added. “Hold on tight everyone.”

Birdramon flew upwards, and as she did, a small flame came into their view. 

Birdramon moved close to the flame, and as she came to almost touch it, it bursted into a fiery circle, causing Birdramon to whip back. The flames of the portal were intense, but it looked large enough to fly through. 

“This may be a test to see our courage.” Tai said. Sora nodded and Birdramon flew through the ring. As the four passed through, the world changed around them. 

The sky had turned orange, like at sunset, and the mountains had become blurry and red. Birdramon circled around, but all that was clear was a beautiful pagoda on one of the peaks. Though it towered above everything, the only entrance looked to be a landing pad leading to the top floor. 

“That must be the palace,” Birdramon said. “Hold on, I’m making a landing.”

Birdramon slowly descended to the pagoda, using the opening to enter what looked to be a throne room. Banners in the shape of stylized hearts and suns hung around the room. A bird insignia on each one. 

A golden T perch in the middle of the room looked both ornate and expensive, but all eyes were on the occupant of the perch. A large phoenix Digimon of orange and red sat atop. Birdramon landed nearby, and Tai leaned over to Sora. 

“Be ready to Digivolve, this may get ugly.” Tai whispered. 

“Don’t be so gung-ho.” Sora responded, rolling her eyes. “Clearly that is the sovereign.”

Sora hopped off Birdramon’s foot, and walked towards the perch. She bowed as she approached the sovereign. “Lady Zhuqiaomon, we were sent to find you. Devimon is threatening both of our worlds, and we need your help to stop him.”

“I am aware, little girl. I see much of the Digital World from my tower.” Zhuqiaomon sneered from her perch. She made a show of preening her feathers, then turned to the children with a sizing look. 

“You two are the champions Gennai chose? I find it hard to believe two such as you defeated the Dark Masters, when MetalSeadramon bested even myself. I assume you are a couple? Courage and Love are quite complimentary” Zhuqiaomon said from her perch.

“What? No. We are just friends. Nothing between us.” Tai stammered, red in the face.

“Then who does this little champion actually love?” She asked, turning to Sora.

“I love everyone on my team.” Sora said, trying to avoid the subject. “Love and friendship go hand and hand, and I have the greatest friends in the world.” Tai winced at the word ‘friendship’, and Sora stammered to correct herself. “I mean, not necessarily friendship. Bonds! The bonds we have.” Zhuqiaomon thought on that from her golden seat.

“No. I will not relinquish my power to you.” Zhuqiaomon declared.

“But we were chosen!” Sora objected. 

“You are not my choices for champions. Gennai may have picked you, but you smell of shame. Love and Courage have no place with the two of you.” Zhuqiaomon said, lifting her head in disgust. 

“Ha-ha. Ha.” echoed a slow laugh. “Little DigiDestined aren’t even worthy.” A large meteor fell from a nook in the palace ceiling. The meteor caught fire and grew into a Digimon. Large ape-like arms slammed into the ground, causing the building to shake. A stoic face lifted, one Sora had seen before. 

“Novamon!” Birdramon yelled. 

“You dare intrude on my sacred realm?” Zhuqiaomon squawked. She caught fire as well and took flight off her giant perch. 

“Double Flare Helix”

The fire was impressive, a twist of fire streams hit Novamon dead on. He let out another slow laugh as he continued standing in the flames. 

“I am not a creature molded of fire, such as you. I am fire itself. It will not hurt me.”

Zhuqiaomon seemed taken aback by this declaration, but did not falter, she dived towards Novamon.

“Flame Rake”

Zhuqiaomon held her talons out, and they caught fire as she dove towards Novamon. She grabbed the meteor-like body from the top and squeezed. Novamon screamed in pain, but his fire turned from red to blue as it exploded out of his body. Zhuqiaomon let go with a startled scream herself and flew a short distance away. 

Zhuqiaomon tried to hide it, but her talons were badly burnt, and she was clearly in pain.

“We have to help her.” Sora said, holding her Digivice out. 

“Even if she was a jerk.” Tai agreed.

Sora nodded at her partner, as her Digivice turned red in color.

Birdramon Digivolve to:  
Garudamon!

“Let’s go buddy,” Tai said.

“Yeah!” Agumon exclaimed.

Agumon WARP Digivolve to:  
….  
WarGreymon!

“Wing Blade”

“Terra Force”

Garudamon and WarGreymon’s attacks flew true, but Novamon did not seem to care. The resulting explosion covered the room, but Novamon emerged. 

“What part of ‘fire itself’ do you not understand.” Novamon slowly enunciated, a creepy oversized smile covering his small face. 

“Infinity Inferno”

Three separate pillars of red fire erupted from the ground and made their way towards the opposing Digimon. Zhuqiaomon folded her wings, and WarGreymon dodged, but Garudamon didn’t move fast enough. The pillar chipped her wing, and the fire burned a part off. Garudamon crash landed on the ground, unable to stay airborne. 

“De-Digivolve, you are too big of a target.” WarGreymon yelled. Garudamon nodded and her body became light. Biyomon re-appeared after it died down.

“What are we going to do Sora?” Biyomon asked. “Almost all of our attacks are fire.”

“Sol Bullets”

Novamon spit multiple blue fireballs at the three of them, but WarGreymon intercepted with his shield. When his attack stopped, scorch marks stained the shield. WarGreymon seemed un-phased by the heat.

“If we can’t use fire, we will just have to hit him the old fashion way.” WarGreymon said brandishing his claw. Novamon prepared for another attack. 

“Sol Bullets”

“Terra Destroyer”

WarGreymon twisted his body faster and faster, he rushed through the fireballs and hit Novamon back. His tornado made a stop back over at Tai, but when he stopped spinning his body was damaged and burned all over. 

“I’m sorry Tai, his attack was too powerful” WarGreymon said as his body turned to energy. Agumon appeared and collapsed unconscious. 

“Double Flare Helix”

Two streams of fire erupted out of Zhuqiaomon’s wings. Novamon was engulfed by the fire, but was still standing when it died down. Novamon grunted and walked towards Sora, Tai, and their partners. Sora held Biyomon close.

“I’m sorry Tai.” Sora said, shame filling her voice.

“What?” Tai said. “This isn’t your fault, it’s the dumb bird there.” 

“If… if things had turned out differently between us.” Sora started.

“No.” Tai said. “What happened between you and Matt is amazing. Never apologize.”

Sora smiled at Tai. “We have been a bit awkward about this lately, haven’t we? Gennai did say the pride was Zhuqiaomon’s favored quality, and I don’t think I have had much of it lately. I should have brought up Matt when she asked.”

“It’s a two-way street, I could have brought it up. There are a lot of ways to be scared, and I didn’t want to lose you.” Tai said.

“Watch out!” Biyomon yelled as she tackled Sora to the ground. Tai ducked and held Agumon close. A pillar of fire barely missed the four. Zhuqiaomon had created a gust to blow the fire off course from them. Novamon turned his head to her and shot a fireball at her at a blurring speed. Her wing was hit but she shrugged it off. 

“You can’t beat him,” Tai yelled. “Give your power to us and we can do it together!”

“What makes you think you are even worthy? You weren’t before!” Zhuqiaomon screeched. She continued to assault Novamon with her Flare Helix. Novamon continued his advance, Zhuqiaomon was no threat to him and her attacks were faltering. 

“Because I do know love! I love Matt!” Sora yelled. 

“And I’m okay with that.” Tai said with a laugh. He held out a hand to Sora, and she took it. A fire erupted between the two; not a hot fire, but a red and orange aura as their Crest powers danced between them. 

Zhuqiaomon stopped attacking and turned to Sora. Time seemed to slow as Zhuqiaomon and Sora stared each other down. “This Matt; he must be very special, your love for him is overpowering. Fine, I guess you would be a decent choice for my Champion of Love.” Zhuqiaomon’s body started to lose focus, becoming a ball of red and orange light. “The power of the Phoenix is yours now. Do not let it go to waste, little girl.”

Red light hit Sora and Biyomon, and a silhouette of a giant bird covered Biyomon. Biyomon flew high up, faster than she had ever flown before, as the power of love coursed through her body. Sora held up her Dfinity and the red light exploded. 

Biyomon WARP Digivolve to:  
….  
Phoenixmon!

Majestic is the only word that could describe Biyomon’s new mega form; giant in size, even more so than Garudamon. Her golden body was even larger than Zhuqiaomon’s, and her beak and wings were thicker and stronger. Sora couldn’t help but think of Zhuqiaomon as a sparrow, while Phoenixmon was a mighty eagle. A holy ring cuffed her leg, a sure sign of the good this Digimon could do. 

“Fine, you Digivolved. But do you think you can do any better against me?” Novamon yelled. 

“I do not need to beat you alone.” Phoenixmon replied, echoing through the palace. 

“Heaven’s Protection”

A beam of white light shined down from above, cloaking the entire room. The beam started to narrow, until only Agumon’s unconscious form was in its light. Agumon’s eyes snapped open, and he walked out the light. He still had a shimmer to him. 

“I’m ready to fight,” Agumon said to no one in particular. The remaining orange light that had made up Zhuqiaomon’s body was absorbed into Agumon. When the light died down, he was WarGreymon once again. A Digi-Egg slowly descended onto the ground, Zhuqiaomon had given away all her power. WarGreymon wasted no time dashing towards Novamon, claw extended. 

“Infinity Inferno”

Novamon released a flame pillar that rushed towards WarGreymon, but this time the fire seemed to roll off WarGreymon. Novamon barely had time to roll out the way before being skewered. 

“How?” Novamon yelled angrily. 

“We fight with one another” Phoenixmon boomed. When WarGreymon stopped moving, a tether of light was barely visible, connecting him to Phoenixmon. 

Novamon screamed, and a large pillar of blue fire shot out his back and hit the ceiling. The palace started to collapse around him. 

“WarGreymon, get Zhuqiaomon’s egg. I will protect Sora and Tai.” Phoenixmon decreed. She landed on the ground with a loud crash. She spread her wings wide and pointed them upwards as Sora and Tai climbed onto her talon.

“Star-Light Explosion”

White sparkles appeared on Phoenixmon’s wings. The sparks grew larger as they launched off and blew a hole in the ceiling. WarGreymon and the egg dashed out, followed by Phoenixmon. 

Outside, and on the ground, Sora held Yokomon in her arms, walking confidently forward. Tai and Agumon followed behind, Tai carrying Zhuqiaomon’s egg. Tai hopped forward and bumped Sora.

“So.” Tai started with a grin. “I couldn’t help but notice the “L” word used when talking about Matt back there.”

Sora suddenly stopped moving. Tai panicked for a second, thinking he crossed a line, when Sora turned with a big smile. 

“You know what, I did say it.” Sora responded. “I’m done being scared of it. I’m not a child, I love Matt.” 

Sora continued walking, a noticeable spring in her step. 

\-----

Noriko was sitting in a chic little cafe. She loved it because even though it was a good distance from her house, she could have the rest of her team in a reasonable time. Her partner Tsunomon was trying to pass as a plush, but his wicked horn was drawing attention. He was ready for a fight. She had recently started calling him Beegee, as his rookie form was BlackGabumon. 

Most of the Dark Spore children just did their DigiDestined duties once a month, but she and Tsunomon trained daily to get stronger. She was now one of the only four Dark Spore children who could reach Champion level, and at Ken’s request she had called the others in. Angela and Abigail had twin Hagurumon who stayed in the DigiWorld, and Hiroshi had a rebellious Yokomon. The four of them were supposed to be meeting with Michael, Davis, Ken, Yolei and Cody. They were the core Japanese defense team while the older kids were on their mission. She wasn't sure how much use she would be if a Mega did attack. She had practiced fighting a ShogunGekomon before with her team, and lost horribly. From everything she knew about Digimon, Megas were in a class of their own, even against groups of Ultimates. 

Yolei and Poromon entered the cafe, followed by Cody and Hiroshi. Hiroshi was laughing at something Yolei had said, but Cody was stoic. 

“Hey guys, where is Upamon and Yokomon?” Noriko asked. 

“Armadillomon is watching Yokomon outside.” Yolei declared, emphasizing Armadillomon’s name. “He is staying a Rookie now! I'm sure Poromon will be soon too!”

“Has anyone else arrived?” Cody asked. Yolei slapped herself on the head at Cody’s statement.

“I almost forgot, Ken called saying he and Davis had something they needed to do.” Yolei added. “Ugh, that is just like Davis. We were left here with a mission, people.”

“You know it could have just as easily been Ken’s idea to run off?” Hiroshi laughed.

“My Ken would never…” Yolei started, but was interrupted with a ping from her phone. “Oh, it’s Michael.” 

Yolei’s face dropped as she looked over the message. “Oh no!”

“Is it a Digimon attack?” Hiroshi asked. 

“Maybe.” Yolei said as she already headed back to the door. “A giant tree is suddenly outside town. It has to be Digimon related!” 

“I will send a message to the girls to get their partners and meet us there. We need to stall until someone with a Mega gets back.” Noriko said as they rushed outside. Armadillomon hobbled towards them with Yokomon on his back. 

Cody looked down in his clenched fist, the Crest called to him. They could win this fight. 

“No. We can win, I have a plan. Everyone stand back.”

Cody held his D3 forward 

Armadillomon Digivolve to:

Ankylomon!

Passerbys scattered as the dinosaur sprang into existence. 

“Um, no offense Cody but I don't think I can tango if a Mega shows up.” Ankylomon said, Yokomon still on his back. 

“No, I'm not done yet. I can do more.” Cody said as he opened his hand. The Crest revealed itself and shined bright as Ankylomon was engulfed in light again. 

Ankylomon Digivolve to:

Shakkoumon!

The remaining company gasped at the Digimon before them. Though the same shape and size was the same as last time they had seen him, Shakkoumon had changed. His wings were gone, as was the cross on his head. The golden accents were now iron, and what had looked like flawless porcelain was now a much duller ceramic.

“He is...” Noriko started. “Less angelic?” she finished, unsure of her wording. 

“That's what happens when you remove Angemon from the equation, I guess.” Cody responded. Shakkoumon lowered a hand and Cody climbed on. Yokomon was already sitting in the hand looking stunned. Hiroshi smiled and ran up as well. Yolei shook her head in surprise and yelled. 

“Hey wait a minute! How did that happen? Where did you get a Crest?”

Cody thought on that. His instinct was to slow down and make sure that they were all on the same page, but he felt the pull on his mind again.

“It doesn't matter right now. We need to hurry,” He said. 

Yolei wanted to argue, but Noriko put a hand on her shoulder. Yolei held out her own Digivice. 

“You aren’t the only one with wings. You four go ahead, we’ll catch up.”

Cody didn't argue, just nodded as Shakkoumon lifted into the air, leaving the girls and their Digimon on the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need a new name to this chapter if anyone has an idea. I hate it.  
> Tri ruined the Megas, they were something special in Adventure and 02.


	8. The Truth About Crest Part 1

“Izzy, how do you know where we are going?” Mimi asked. Her, Palmon, and Izzy had all been flying on Kabuterimon for only a few minutes, but after a short flight in the wrong direction, Izzy had changed course. They had been making a beeline for the better part of an hour and Izzy had still not checked his Dfinity. 

“I triangulated the position of Ebonwumon’s palace,” Izzy responded. He held up his Dfinity for Mimi, and a holographic map sprang up showing the area they had been flying. Two purple pinpoints stuck on the map, and two clear lines pointed at a third point farther north. “All it takes is two points to properly find a third.”

“Oh. I get it.” Mimi lied. It was best for her to agree so Izzy wouldn’t try and teach her math. The rest of the ride was filled with Izzy messing with his screens, while Mimi and Palmon mindlessly chattered.

Kabuterimon landed in an open field, nothing as far as the eye could see. Izzy looked around and he opened his map. Kabuterimon de-Digivolved and Tentomon flew to his partner. 

“This is the spot, math doesn’t lie” Izzy said. “It must be extra dimensional, that’s why we have never seen it” He mused to himself. “There must be some way to open the gate.”

“Maybe we just need to ask nicely,” Mimi smiled. Izzy rolled his eyes, but Mimi continued. “Mr. Ebonwumon, we need your help! My name is Mimi and this is Izzy, and we are looking for your power to save the Digital World!” She yelled. 

“Mimi, I don’t think that...” Izzy started to say, but a brilliant green portal opened, and Mimi and Palmon walked through as Izzy stood dumbstruck. 

“Izzy, are we going too?” Tentomon asked after a beat. Izzy snapped out of it and the two of them entered the portal. The other side of the portal was the massive ruins of a medieval stone castle. Izzy noted that the castle looked destroyed on the surface, but it was too nicely put together. The room was symmetrical, and the rubble had been moved around. Even the grass patches where the floor was missing looked green and mown. Someone had gone through the trouble of cleaning up a ruined castle as an aesthetic choice. In the middle of the castle was the biggest tree Izzy had ever seen. 

Izzy stepped up to a wall, but what he saw there changed his theory. Small punctures in the wall had eroded some, but they clearly were bullet holes. Izzy ran his finger over them, they ran up the wall in an erratic pattern. The area was cleaned, but these were real ruins, from a real battle.

“There was a fight here, a big one.” Izzy remarked. Mimi and Palmon moved their hands towards their chins worried. Izzy raised an eyebrow at some moved rocks. “But it was long ago, plenty of cleaning up has been done.” Mimi screamed as the ground shook and the giant tree began to move. 

“Aye, there was quite a fight.” Said a gruff male voice. A softer voice of an older woman followed. “Puppetmon flailed that nasty hammer of his and ruined my perfectly designed castle.”

Two serpent heads erupted from under the tree. One slightly wrinkled like a tortoise, the other smooth like a snake. 

“Oh!” Mimi said in surprise. “Is one of you Mr. Ebonwumon?” she asked politely, as if giant Digimon heads were to be expected. 

The heads turned to each other like that was a funny joke. 

“I suppose I am Mr. Ebonwumon” Said the wrinkled head. He had the male voice. 

“And I guess that makes me Miss Ebonwumon” Said the other head. The ground shook more as the serpent heads continued to crawl out the ground. When they finished coming out of the ground, it was clear they were not two snakes, but one two-headed turtle. The giant oak tree was the top of a turtle shell. 

“Wait a minute, you’re both Ebonwumon?” Palmon asked. Ebonwumon nodded their heads. 

“I’m afraid Sincerity and Knowledge don’t always get along.” The female head said. 

“So, it was easiest on everyone to just have two heads.” The male head added.

“That makes sense,” Mimi said. Palmon nodded her head as well. Izzy almost tripped in shock of the statement. 

“What do you mean it makes sense? Can Digimon alter their forms like that? What about if only one virtue is released?” Izzy started rattling off scenarios.

“Even if we hadn’t been watching you, it’s clear who is the Knowledge champion.” The male head laughed. Izzy regained his composure at the compliment. 

“I’m honored that I live up to your expectations. As I am sure you know, Devimon needs to be stopped, and I have come for your power of Knowledge.” Izzy bowed respectfully at the male head. 

“It isn’t very knowledgeable for my champion to make assumptions.” The female head said as her eyes began to glow purple. “I am the keeper of Knowledge.”

“And I am of Sincerity.” The male head added as his eyes glowed green. “We have been waiting on you two, please sit down. It's been too long since we had guests.”

“And don’t worry about today, fighting has already been avoided.” He added as a green mist showed a scene elsewhere. A grey snail with tiny wings flapping away in the picture. “FellDevimon sent an interesting choice to fight us here.” 

Mimi upturned her nose, sticking out her tongue as if to gag. “Is that a Numemon?” 

Izzy held out his Dfinity, flipping through images of the Digimon they now saw. “It looks like a Mega form of one, yeah. BombNumemon. His shell is actually an explosive.”

Upon closer look at the images, the grey Numemon had a few defining features. What had looked like a shell was actually a cartoonish bomb, the wick forming a tail, and topped by tiny grey cherub wings. He was not balanced for flight, and his arm nubs and head hung down lower as he zoomed through the air. Other than the bomb and grey skin, the only other thing that looked different was an absurd twirly moustache on his face. 

“Wow,” Izzy said as he continued his research, bar graphs appearing before him. “He is… not very good. His power levels are lower than MetalGreymon, and he has worse agility and speed than some of our Champions. His only new special attack is something called ‘Junk Finale’.”

“He also isn’t much smarter.” Tentomon sighed as Ebonwumon’s image zoomed out some. He was following a purple illusion of Kabuterimon, and right ahead… was that?”

“Is he following a flying Togemon?” Mimi asked incredulously. Sure enough, a Green illusion of the cactus Digimon was flying through the air, BombNumemon pursuing.

Both heads of Ebonwumon laughed, though the knowledge head kept hers to a snicker. “We couldn’t help ourselves.” She said. “He phased through the Kabuterimon illusion at one point and still didn’t catch on.” 

“I would love the chance to ask you more, there is so much about this world you can teach us, but we need to get back to our friends” Izzy said as Mimi nodded along. 

“You’re right, of course.” The female head sighed as her eyes snapped back to purple. “We dally despite the dangers.”

“But, before we give you our power” The male one said, his eyes now green again. “We have one question.”

The two spoke in unison, and the whole temple shook. “Will you defend the Digital world and defeat FellDevimon at any cost?”

“Yes” Izzy responded quickly. “There is so much damage that will be done if he is allowed to have his way. I will find a way to defeat him.”

Mimi twirled her ponytail in her finger, looking down and at Palmon. She said nothing for a few seconds, the tension in the room was clear.

“No” She responded. “I can’t kill anyone. These Digimon may be our enemies now, but defeating them in the real world is killing them forever.” She started to tear up. “I’m sorry, but I won’t do it. If you need to find a new champion, I understand.”

The male head reached over to Mimi, and gently lifted her head up with his snout. “You don’t have anything to apologize for. The road ahead will be tough, but never lie about yourself, your purity is your strength.”

“The two of you have already proven yourselves more than worthy to use our power.” The female head declared. Ebonwumon started to dissolve. “We could not ask for better champions.” Added the male head. 

A bright flash filled the room, and when they readjusted their eyes, they were back in the field. 

Mimi looked down in surprise to see she was holding an egg. 

“I don’t feel any different, I wonder if...” Izzy began to say, but his eyes rolled back and turned purple before he could finish the thought. 

“Izzy!” Tentomon yelled as Izzy fell on the ground. Mimi and Palmon panicked as Izzy started mouthing words rapidly. Suddenly Izzy’s eyes snapped back and he sat up quickly. 

“Cody!” He said. “We need to get back home- fast.”

\-----

Ken wasn't sure why this was considered a good idea. Even Davis had to see the obvious flaws in this “Master Plan”. Him and Davis were supposed to be meeting the others for the defense strategy, and now Davis had brought him on a crazy adventure in the Digital World instead. Davis had the line of reasoning that they needed more complete Crest, and Miracles and Kindness were somewhere in Ken's old base. They were flying across the desert on ExVeemon’s back. 

The base ruins, though covered in sand, slowly appeared on the horizon. Jagged shards of metal were jutted out from the ground and ruined electronics were all around. The whole area looked almost like a technical oasis. As they approached, Davis started to celebrate, but Ken was less happy. 

“Even if we do dig them up, what is the point if we don't have new Digivices?” Ken mumbled to himself as Davis was surveying the area with exaggerated hand gestures. Davis obviously heard because he turned back to Ken with a goofy smile. 

“Tai used his Crest just fine without the Dfinity. If my Crest wants to pull Jun’s hair, that's an added bonus.” Davis laughed at his own joke, but suddenly hardened his expression.

“Savagemon almost killed me, Ken,” Davis explained. “I’m not afraid of getting hurt, but too many people rely on us. If we can’t get stronger, Devimon will kill someone we care about.”

Before Ken could respond, a giant Digimon erupted from the sands, knocking them off ExVeemon and into the ruins below. The Digimon looked like an orange sauropod, and was the size of a small building. Ken recognized it as Brachiomon, an Ultimate Digimon who lived in this desert. Ken also recognized the spinning black gears that were all over his body. At least ten black gears covered Brachiomon’s body. 

“Howling Sandstorm”

Brachiomon’s eyes were rolled back and pure white. He whipped his tail back and forth and a horrible sandstorm started pelting them. 

ExVeemon turned and saw Ken, Davis and Wormmon had landed safely in a web Wormmon had made. Breathing a sigh of relief, he flew towards the giant dinosaur and punched a gear on his stomach. The gear stayed put, so ExVeemon flew back some and readied an attack.

“X-V Laser”

A golden X flew at the gear. It destroyed it, but cut Brachiomon too. Brachiomon howled and whipped his tail, knocking ExVeemon out of the air. ExVeemon picked himself up and flew back into the storm. 

“We need to find the Crest!” Davis yelled. “ExVeemon can’t do this for much longer. It has to be in these ruins somewhere!”

“What if I’m not ready?” Ken asked. He refused to look Davis in the eye. “Nothing I did as the Digimon Emperor can be considered kind. The Crest didn’t choose me, I took it by force.”

“What do you mean, force?” Davis asked.

“When I was the Digimon Emperor, I was looking for a source to power my floating base. My search led me to a lab, I later learned it was Gennai’s, and there was information on the Crest. I tore the place apart, and found my power source there in a hidden safe, the Crest of Miracles. According to Gennai’s research, it was one of the 3 most powerful Crest, a Golden Ideal. I stole it, and experimented on it with captured Digimon. I fought with it, but it was too much power, and it did nothing I wanted it to. I journeyed to a desert mentioned in Gennai’s research, and there I found the unrefined Crest buried in Pillar of Virtue. I took one, the Kindness stone; not even with my own hands, but with controlled Digimon slaves. I used it as a conduit, and it responded well. After I fused the two powers together, I forgot about them, they were just another stepping stone on my rise to power. Nothing about my actions were kind.”

“Ken…” Wormmon cooed. “Did you ever think maybe the Crest saw past the spore? I know I saw the real you under it all. Maybe you didn’t find the Crest. Maybe the kindness in your heart called out for help, and it found you.”

“Yeah Ken, it doesn’t matter what you did under the Spore, you were no more evil than Brachiomon, and just like you, he needs help to see the light.” 

“Brachiomon… needs help?” Ken said through the tears. 

“Yeah, he is like you were. A good soul controlled by a dark force. This isn’t a rampaging Digimon, or a Dark Spire creation. This is a slave, and it’s up to free him.”

As Davis said this, the ground beneath them opened, and a familiar black box floated up. 

“I can’t do it without you.” Davis said. 

Ken nodded, and they reached out and grabbed the box together. Their hair blew back as a wind swept from the box. The black chipped away slowly, and two colors revealed themselves underneath. A lavender light inched towards the side held by Ken, and a golden aura crawled onto Davis’s side. The wind got intense, and Ken shielded his eyes from blowing sand. But he thought about Brachiomon and held on. He felt his fingers starting to slip, but before he had to let go, the black box cleaved in two. Ken and Davis both held a chuck of rock, gold and lavender, which turned to dust and their hands sparkled with power. 

Ken dried a tear, and held out his D3. In a glow of light Wormmon Digivolved into Stingmon and shot up toward Brachiomon’s torso. Ken looked at his hand, the light weaved in patterns that seemed random, but the Crest of Kindness kept forming in the swirls. 

Ken slammed his hand into his Digivice, and a brilliant lavender light engulfed the area.

Stingmon Digivolve to!

JewelBeemon! 

[I am JewelBeemon, the true Ultimate form of Wormmon. I am a master of the spear, and my lightning fast attack is called Spike Buster.]

The Digimon that now flew at Brachiomon had a lot of similarities to Stingmon. Green plated armor covered his entire body, and insect wings attached to his back flicked as he moved. But unlike Stingmon, this new Digimon was covered in beautiful golden orbs, and in his hand, was an elegant red spear.

“Stay back Ken, I will not allow an innocent Digimon to be hurt under my watch.”

JewelBeemon continued to rocket towards Brachiomon, and with amazing precision hit a Dark Gear on Brachiomon’s neck with his spear. It disintegrated on impact, and JewelBeemon flicked away before Brachiomon could respond. He gracefully weaved through the sandstorm, trying to find more Dark Gears. Three gears fell in short order to the beetle Digimon. Ken stood back, his D3 now lavender instead of black, speechless at the grace JewelBeemon showed. 

“Davis, let’s not let Ken and JewelBeemon have all the fun. Let’s Digivolve!” ExVeemon cheered.

“Right” Davis agreed. He shined the light from his hand over his Digivice, and the entire Digivice turned gold. 

ExVeemon Digivolve to!

Paildramon!

Davis gawked at the form before him. He had seen Paildramon before, though what had once been the body of Stingmon now was a darker blue, no signs of a fusion partner to be seen. Paildramon unfolded his guns and spoke, his voice now one instead of two.

“Desperado Blaster” 

A hail of bullets hit the side of Brachiomon, disintegrating what looked like the last three gears. Brachiomon didn’t stop rampaging, and as the giant Digimon turned towards them, he let out a mighty roar. As he did, Davis and Ken saw one final Gear, embedded in the back of his mouth. 

“In his mouth guys!” Davis yelled to their partners. 

Paildramon flew up higher and perched on top of Brachiomon’s head. He locked his legs and grabbed his nose. The dinosaur Digimon roared once more as he attempted to shake Paildramon off. JewelBeemon stopped in front of his gaping mouth and raised his spear. 

“Spike Buster”

JewelBeemon stabbed forward at a rapid speed, he didn’t hit anything with the spear itself, but shockwaves erupted outward and into the mouth of Brachiomon. 

“Eat up!” Paildramon said as the shockwaves destroyed the final black gear. Brachiomon’s eyes rolled back, and as Paildramon released him the giant Digimon stopped the sandstorm. 

“We did it!” Davis cheered. The ultimate Digimon flew to the ground and reverted to their In-Training forms.

“Now that I have this, I’ll show FellDevimon who is boss!” Davis brandished the Crest of Miracles on his hand, but Ken was looking at someone behind him.

“I’m sorry Davis, but I need that back” said a familiar voice. Davis didn’t have time to place it, because he felt himself get sleepy, and the last thing he saw was the golden light fading from his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops forgot i was doing this, my bad.


	9. The Truth About Crest Part 2

Shakkoumon surveyed the battlefield from above, followed by a Biyomon. An absolutely enormous wooden tree had covered the outskirts of the city with its roots. Seadramon had wrapped his body around one of the roots and was blowing ice onto it. As they approached Cody saw Michael, Abigail and Angela nearby. Hiroshi and Cody held on to Shakkoumon tight as he descended. 

“Cody?” Michael asked as Cody and Hiroshi hit the ground. “How is Shakkoumon here?”

“I have my own Crest.” Cody said proudly as he showed it off. “Gennai gave it to me,” He added. The lie slipped off his tongue so easy. He didn’t need Michael getting on his case like Yolei did. 

Abigail twirled a stand of her long brown hair. “Anyway, we are trying to clear these roots, before they destroy the city.” She gestured behind her, where two large gear Digimon were failing to saw off a root. 

“The roots are digital, so they disappear when we finish breaking one.” Angela added. 

Hiroshi took out his Digivice, an orange D3, and pointed it at Biyomon. “You ready to help, buddy?” 

“Yeah whatever.” The Biyomon retorted. A male Biyomon, his feathers a darker pink.

Biyomon Digivolve to!

Kokatorimon!

The giant chicken Digimon ran forward and started to tear roots away with his muscular legs.

Cody smirked at Hiroshi and his partner. “Let me show you all how it’s done.”

“Kachina Bombs”

Shakkoumon navel opened, and three bladed disks shot out and sliced off several rows of roots. 

“That almost hurt, so I think that’s quite enough waiting.” A voice said from seemingly everywhere. 

“Show yourself!” Cody yelled. Shakkoumon readied himself to strike. 

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m not hiding” said the voice. Suddenly two large parts of the tree separated and became arms. Four black eyes opened up on the tree, and a mouth full of tusks opened up. 

“Is that a Cherrymon?” Abigail asked, fear thick in her voice. “I’ve never seen a Digimon that big.”

“I am AncientCherrymon, the Mega form of Woodmon.” The giant tree boomed. 

“Mist of Demise”

“Everyone stand your ground.” Michael yelled as a purple mist rolled towards them. The children all coughed on the mist, but It didn’t seem to hurt them.   
Abigail and Angela took out matching Purple D3s. 

Hagurumon Digivolve to! 

Tankmon!

Mekanorimon!

The four champions and one ultimate stood in formation. Tankmon readied his head cannon and fired the first shot. 

“Justice Beam”

“Mekanori Beam”

The two robotic Digimon followed up with two lasers. It cut across the base of the tree, but the giant Digimon didn’t react much. 

“Eenie meenie minie… Mo!” AncientCherrymon laughed as a root jutted upwards and hit Seadramon. Seadramon de-Digivolved and was flung away. Michael ran from the group to grab his partner. 

“Everyone spread out.” Yelled a voice from the sky. Yolei was flying on Aquilamon above them. Aquilamon had dropped BlackGabumon and Noriko, who were now falling onto the enemy.   
BlackGabumon Digivolve to! 

BlackGarurumon!

“Dark Fang”

Noriko held on tight as BlackGarurumon bit what would have been AncientCherrymon’s nose. He flung them off, but Beegee landed on his feet and the two to them ran to reposition. 

Aquilamon landed next to Cody and Shakkoumon, and Yolei hopped off.

“Another Mega?” she asked, knowing the answer.

“He already took down Michael and Seadramon, but we are making headway.” Cody said.

Yolei didn’t see any real damage from their attacks, but she trusted Cody.

“Okay then, everyone attack at once.” Yolei yelled, dramatically pointing towards AncientCherrymon. 

Mekanorimon took off on his rockets and went airborne, releasing his full arsenal. Tankmon did the same from the ground. BlackGarurumon shot a stream of crimson fire, and Aquilamon let out destructive sound waves. 

“Justice Beam”

Shakkoumon started his red eye beams, and didn’t stop when he usually would. The beam pierced into AncientCherrymon for over ten seconds before he reached over and swatted Shakkoumon down.

With all the Digimon finished their attacks, AncientCherrymon let out a chuckle. 

“Cute. Now for my next trick, let’s try a...” AncientCherrymon started.

“Cherry Bomber”

A clump of bombs popped out of AncientCherrymon’s foliage, and sailed through the air, right towards where Hiroshi was standing. 

“Hiroshi! No!” Cody yelled as a cherry bombs hit the ground near him. When the smoke cleared, Cody realized Kokatorimon had taken the blast himself, and had reverted to Yokomon. A branch grew off a nearby root and flung Hiroshi and Yokomon to the same spot Michael and Betamon were. 

“Mist of Demise” 

“Come on little boy, fight me harder.” AncientCherrymon taunted as roots pulled Shakkoumon back onto his feet. Purple mist continued to pour out of his base as the Digimon continued their assault. Tankmon and BlackGarurumon fought from the ground, as Mekanorimon and Aquilamon continued to look for openings from above. 

Yolei looked around, the other kids were barking orders at their Digimon, and she realized she wanted to join them. Aquilamon could win this fight if he just tried hard. The thought snapped her back to reality and she turned to Cody. 

“Cody, this mist, it's making us all a bit crazy. We need to retreat.” Yolei said. She placed an arm on Cody. 

“No, I have a Crest now, I know what I’m doing.” Cody responded. “Shakkoumon is strong enough.”

“That is just what AncientCherrymon wants you to think, but he isn’t even really fighting back! This fight is over, we need to wait for the others.” She tightened her grasp and tried to pull him away. 

“I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING” Cody screamed, whipping his arm away from Yolei. “I’m the Crest holder, the Crest chose me!” 

“Liar, liar” AncientCherrymon laughed. The laugh seemed to echo non-stop around them. 

The Crest symbol appeared above Cody, but Cody’s eyes glazed over as Shakkoumon started to leak shadows from his joints. The Crest rotated upside down, and the beautiful teal became a sad tinged grey. Cody’s Digivice became hot, and Shakkoumon was surrounded by Darkness. 

Shakkoumon Dark Digivolve.

Reapermon.

Cody dropped his D3 in shock, and it cracked as it hit the ground. 

Reapermon looked statuesque, like Shakkoumon, but that’s where the resemblance ended. Reapermon was a gold and silver robotic Digimon, with a curved blade for one arm and a cannon mounted on his other. Skull masks covered both his knees, and a golden oni mask covered his face. 

“What… what is that?” Cody asked as Reapermon stood perfectly still. His eyes grew wide with fear as Reapermon turned to look at him. 

“It’s your Digmon partner, don’t you recognize him?” AncientCherrymon laughed. “You never even bothered to find out what the Crest was, you were so eager for power.”

The crest in Cody’s hand was a dull grey now, no sign of the color it once had. 

“Digimon unfortunately can only use the power of the Crest as it is, but human emotions play such a huge part in how that power is portrayed. Like the Crest you now hold.” AncientCherrymon said. 

“What is it?” Cody yelled, still trying to fight the shadows in his own hand. 

“It is the Crest of Truth, or it was before you got a hold of it.” He laughed. 

“You. You tricked me!” Cody yelled at the giant Digimon.

“No, little DigiDestined, you tricked yourself.” AncientCherrymon retorted. “All it took was a little manipulation, and you lied to everyone, corrupting the Crest.” 

“FellDevimon will reward me greatly for finding him another minion. I’m done with the rest of you” AncientCherrymon said, his voice suddenly malefic and deep.

“Roots of the Earth”

Tankmon and BlackGarurumon screamed in pain and de-Digivolved as spiked roots stabbed at them. Hagurumon and Tsunomon landed in the pile of defeated Digimon and Partners.

“Cherry Bomber” 

More of the tiny black bombs exploded outward, and afterwards Hawkmon and Hagurumon fell from the sky. Hawkmon woke up in time to slow Hagurumon’s fall. Yolei let out a relieved breath that they didn’t hit the ground. 

Angela, Abigail and Noriko were pushed forward with their Digimon. A cage of roots twisted them into place. Everyone but Yolei and Cody were now trapped. Reapermon still stood perfectly still nearby. 

“Do me a favor, kill the DigiDestined.” AncientCherrymon said with a smile. He started to pull his roots back in as he waved off Reapermon.

Reapermon gave a loud and evil laugh at the command, and raised his cannon at the cage. Noriko and the others tried to move, but the wooden cage AncientCherrymon created had them cornered.

“Flower Ring”

A wreath of flowers circled Reapermon’s neck. He lowered his gun in a pained, jerky motion, but continued his manic laughter.

“Horn Buster”

A large yellow orb of power hit AncientWoodmon square in the jaw. AncientWoodmon turned to his attacker. MegaKabuterimon flew into sight, while Lilymon flickered near Reapermon. Under normal circumstances MegaKabuterimon’s epic size would have been impressive, but AncientWoodmon towered over him at almost five times his height.

Lilymon stood on top of Reapermon’s cannon. She twirled her hand as more and more flowered ropes materialized and covered Reapermon’s body. They burned as they touched his body, but they stopped his movements and left him out of the fight. MegaKabuterimon meanwhile had his horn locked on AncientWoodmon’s enormous fist. MegaKabuterimon’s body shook under the weight of the larger and stronger Digimon’s arm. Izzy and Mimi were on MegaKabuterimon’s leg, and ran up to join Yolei and Cody. 

“Mimi, Yolei, go help the others, I’ll help Cody.” Izzy commanded. Mimi nodded and grabbed Yolei by the arm. 

“Lilymon can help disperse the virus, but Armadillomon can’t find himself until you find yourself” Izzy said, holding Cody’s shoulders.

“I’m so stupid” Cody said as he cried into Izzy’s shoulder. “Armadillomon trusted me and I lied to him. I didn’t even bother asking what the Crest was.”

“Hey now, you don’t need to have all the answers, that’s my job.” Izzy chuckled. He held out his Dfinity and pointed to the Crest of Knowledge. 

“We all make mistakes, we don’t learn from our mistakes if we pretend they never existed” He continued.

Cody dried his eyes and nodded at Izzy. “I think MegaKabuterimon should De-Digivolve." 

Izzy held up his Dfinity. A brilliant purple light formed the shape of one of Ebonwumon's heads. MegaKabuterimon shrunk down into Tentomon as the head swooped down and engulfed him. 

Tentomon WARP Digivolve to:  
. . . .   
HerculesKabuterimon

The Mega form of Tentomon was smaller than MegaKabuterimon, but his yellow body was sleeker, and had both a Kabuterimon horn and a set of powerful mandibles.

Izzy checked his Dfinity, statistics on Tentomon’s new form filled every inch of the tiny screen. 

[HerculesKabuterimon, King of the Bugs. His Revolution ability improves upon all the attacks of other Insect Digimon.]

Under the attack part of stats, Izzy saw a list of special moves of many insectoid Digimon they had fought with and against. Small icons of those Digimon near each one. Izzy reached out and touched the Kuwagamon. 

On cue, HerculesKabuterimon flew into AncientCherrymon, his mandibles glowing with power. 

“Twin Scissors: Revolution”

HerculesKabuterimon took a large chunk off AncientCherrymon, but the giant tree started to mend and swatted him off. 

Cody stepped forward towards Reapermon as Lilymon frantically kept him still. 

“I’m sorry.” Cody whispered as he touched Reapermon’s leg. “I lied to you, please just come back to me.”

Black mist erupted out of Reapermon as his form shrunk down to Armadillomon. 

“Thanks, Cody,” Armadillomon said as he touched the ground. “let’s not keep secrets from each other ever again.”

“Cody the battle isn’t over yet” Izzy yelled nearby. “But this will keep him busy for a while.” Izzy pressed a button on his screen, a picture of Roachmon.

“Garbage Dump: Revolution”

“Now, for the hard part.” Izzy said as HerculesKabuterimon shot stink bombs at AncientCherrymon. Izzy held his Dfinity close and closed his eyes tight. Purple energy traveled up Izzy’s arm as the Dfinity turned plain white. The knowledge symbol disappeared, and a red X grew in its spot. 

“Izzy, what are you doing?” Cody asked.

“Getting you a Dfinity. I think I have enough control over my Crest now, and you need it a lot more” Izzy said, his eyes now a brilliant purple. He started to hand Cody the Dfinity when a shadow erupted from Cody’s hand. 

“What’s happening?” Cody cried as the shadow tried to push the Dfinity away.

“It must be the darkness from the corruption, it's still in the Crest and fighting back.” Izzy yelled back. The sounds of wind and battle behind them was deafening. 

“But I apologized to Armadillomon” Cody yelled back.

Izzy grabbed Cody’s arm with his spare hand, steadying himself. “That’s not enough. Cody, it needs your truth.” The shadows continued to rip away, but Izzy kept the Dfinity close.

“I lied to everyone because I was scared.” Cody said towards his hand. The shadows seemed to die down a bit, before picking up again. 

“I lied because it was easy.” Cody added. Once again, the shadows became erratic.

“It’s almost there Cody, I believe in you.” Izzy said, smiling.

“I just wanted… to be strong like you,” Cody replied, almost whispering. A teal shockwave blasted outward, and slowly the Crest started to die down. The shadows becoming a clearer teal. The Dfinity dropped into Cody’s hand, now transformed by the Crest of Truth, and his eyes became a matching shade as he looked forward with supernatural clarity beyond anything he had ever experienced.

He saw the entire history of AncientCherrymon, Cody saw his miserable life as a Woodmon, one of hundreds in a forest and wanting to make a name as his own, even if it was as a villain. 

Yolei and Mimi, off on the side of the battle, not even worrying about their own safety as they tried to break their friends free. Cody saw the latent powers of Sincerity on Yolei, but Mimi was blinding with it. He saw a terrible choice that would be laid before Mimi in the near future.

Armadillomon, watching him closely, understanding Cody better than he understood himself. He realized he had once again hidden Armadillomon from his mom. A mistake he fell into again. He knew his dad would be disappointed at the secrecy.

And Izzy, strong, smart, and… handsome. What Cody had attributed to friendship, was now painfully obvious. Affection; even though Izzy was a boy. 

Shock came to Cody as the realization hit him. The clarity of the Crest removing all ideas of having a wife and children someday. Cody would never get that. But the Crest was telling him now is not the time.

“Armadillomon, think you could help HerculesKabuterimon out?” Cody asked. His voice was sullen but confident. 

“Anything for you, partner” Armadillomon responded as the Dfinity activated.

Armadillomon WARP Digivolve to:  
. . . .   
Reapermon

Izzy panicked and took a step back. “Reapermon? But I thought you had dispersed the shadows!” 

“I did,” Cody replied. Reapermon put a hand down nearby and Cody hopped on. “We don’t learn from our mistakes if we pretend they never existed.” Izzy nodded at his own words, and stepped into Reapermon’s hand as well. Reapermon gently placed Cody and Izzy on his shoulders, and the three turned towards the fight. 

“Cody” Reapermon said, his voice still deep and unsettling, but now with a hint of humor. “This form is amazing.” Reapermon lifted into the air, hovering over the city as HerculesKabuterimon fired off a rapid-fire of stink pellets at AncientCherrymon. “I have so much power now.” He added as he readied his cannon arm. 

“Careful with it, Reapermon our friends are still down there.” 

“Then let’s wrap this up, shall we?”

“Guilty Chain”

What had once been a cannon, was now apparently a grappling hook. A bladed chain shot forwards towards AncientCherrymon. Though roots blocked the path between them, the chain burned through them and wrapped around AncientCherrymon’s base. HerculesKabuterimon used the moment to recover, flying in a circle and ramming into the back of AncientCherrymon. Lilymon flicked into AncientCherrymon’s face, shooting her Flower Cannon into his eye. Reapermon released the chain and flew to the area the others were in. 

Reapermon slashed at the area around Mimi and Yolei, freeing the others and clearing the area in one swipe of his sickle.

“Mimi! Yolei! I got control over Reapermon, he is on our side now!” Cody said victoriously as the four stood together. AncientCherrymon rumbled and prepared another strike. Lilymon and HerculesKabuterimon landed nearby. 

“Izzy, not that the stink bombs aren’t working, but I need more fire power.” HerculesKabuterimon said as he also landed nearby. 

“We need one more big attack. Let’s end this now!” Yolei cheered. 

“One big attack huh?” Cody asked as Reapermon’s sickle started to glow gold.

“I got just the classic to do that.” Izzy smiled as he closed his eyes. A floating image of Kabuterimon appeared by Izzy’s forehead, as HerculesKabuterimon charged a giant orb of lightning.

“Judgement Sickle”

“Electro Shocker: Revolution”

A golden crescent of energy flew from Reapermon’s sickle, matching in size the orb of electricity HerculesKabuterimon had contributed. The combined attack hit AncientCherrymon perfectly in the middle of his giant trunk. 

“This is my fate?” AncientCherrymon screamed as the orb dug into his body. “Just another stepping stone? Another story for the damn DigiDestined?”

AncientCherrymon’s corpse started to disintegrate, unable to stand the combined assault. A golden light filled the streets as the wooden pillars eroded away. 

HerculesKabuterimon and Reapermon shrunk, becoming Motimon and Upamon. The remaining golden light started to form an orb where AncientCherrymon’s heart would have been. The children gawked as the orb slowly descended toward the group. Everyone turned to Yolei, who was mesmerized by the light now clearly homing in on her. 

Yolei reached out, the ball of light floated in circles around her hand. It sizzled in the air, as if unsure of how to interact with her. Now that it was so close, Yolei realized it was not gold nor orange, but a soft amber color. 

“Yolei, I think this Crest is for you.” Cody said excitedly. Yolei held out her palm and touched the bottom of the orb lightly, the amber light absorbed into her hand. As it died down Yolei looked at her hand where it first touched. On it was a symbol she had never seen, two parallel lines that curved away from each other at the end, like two canes. 

“If I’m not mistaken, that is the Crest of Compassion.” Izzy said, his irises still purple. 

Yolei nodded, eyes still fixed on her hand. She had seen what happened to Cody, but she still couldn’t contain her excitement. Compassion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cody was the Digidestined i most identified with as a child. So I think that's why he's gay in this fic.


End file.
